Devils in the Church
by S. Chensu and Luff
Summary: You know you went off like the Devil in a church, In the middle of a crowded room... Love brought them all together and now it's torn them apart. Can they ever return to normality? Chapter nine, Time and the Changes it brings Part 1 of 2 or 3, solo by
1. The Past

Hello everyone, this is my second Yu-Gi-Oh! solo and is quite different to 'The Variety Show' as it's set in the present/a few years into the future. You should check out the warning below to find out if there's anything you won't like but apart from that, I won't mention the plot too much.

This was originally going to be 10 chapters but it started getting too long so I've split the whole story in two parts. This story is the first part (9/12 chapters done) and contains 13 chapters (including the prologue) while the second part will be written (title unknown as of yet) as I post up this one. If you're interested in finding out what the current status of these are, please check my profile. You can also e-mail me (again, check the profile for a link)!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! as usual and for this part only, I also don't own the song "Hello" by Evanescence (I had to change all the "she's" to "he's" otherwise it wouldn't make sense) and the play "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare. I do own the story and the small OC in this chapter though.

**Warning**: This is a yaoi story (male x male) so if you don't like then please don't read and complain at me. It won't be too explicit though as I'm not that good at writing lemons. There will be swearing and homophobic behaviour too as well as some mild gore.

**Notes**: This is set in an AU where there are no ancient spirits, although the Millennium Items do exist. Some of the characters will be OOC and there will be one major OC although they do not appear until near the end.

This chapter is just a look back at how some of the people meet up in junior high. Just remember there is no Pharaoh etc. and the Millennium Items have been passed down the families. The whole flashback is at 12-14 years but it's further split into smaller ones.

"Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs while /_blah_/ is emphasis. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

Here we go!

* * *

**Prologue: The Past**

Yugi sat at the table eating his breakfast slowly, although he didn't really notice the taste, too nervous about school. Although he was twelve years old, he had mostly been tutored at home because he had been so ill over the last year or so. He had recovered but not without effect on his body: he wasn't going to get much taller. It got him down sometimes, especially as he was now going back to school, Domino Junior High to be precise. He just hoped that because there would be other new people (coming from various elementary schools) too, it wouldn't be very hard to make new friends.

"Are you ok Yugi?" He glanced up and saw his grandpa looking at him with concern.

"Yeah, just a bit nervous I suppose." He swallowed the last of his cereal before placing his bowl by the sink.

"Now Yugi, there's no need to be nervous. You'll do fine, I promise."

"What if they don't like me?"

"Why wouldn't they? You're a very nice boy."

"But I'm short…" Yugi looked down, closing his eyes so he wouldn't cry. He felt his grandpa lift his chin up so he could see him.

"If they're that shallow, they're not worth bothering with. I know that sometimes the Council put a lot of emphasis on physical appearance but even they admit it's not your fault." Yugi snorted at this.

"Yeah, like that counts for a lot. In their opinion, I'm short so I must be weak…" Yugi sighed and looked out of the window. "I hate this place some-"

"Right Yugi." Solomon interrupted quickly, drowning out the rest of Yugi's sentence. "Now come on, it's time for you to go to school. If it makes you feel better, I'll give you a lift there. You'll have to walk home though." He suggested and Yugi nodded his head, turning around to pick his bag up.

As they sat in the car, Solomon tried to get Yugi to talk but he remained silent, staring out of the window. The car eventually stopped in front of the school and Solomon turned to Yugi.

"We're here Yugi." Hearing his name, Yugi looked up at him. "Now don't be afraid, everything's going to be fine. Trust in the Millennium Puzzle if nothing else…" Yugi held it in his hand and smiled, feeling the reassuring warmth of it.

"Thank you grandpa." He smiled and got out of the car. "See you later." He shut the car door and turned around to face the school. "Well, here goes nothing…" He muttered, taking his first steps towards the building.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"How pathetic…"

#Playground school bell rings again  
Rain clouds come to play again  
Has no one told you he's not breathing?  
Hello I'm your mind giving you  
Someone to talk to  
Hello#

"Stand up and start acting like a man, you chickenshit."

#If I smile and don't believe  
Soon I know I'll wake up from this dream  
Don't try to fix me I'm not broken  
Hello I'm the lie living for you so you can hide  
Don't cry#

"You freakin' queer."

#Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping  
Hello I'm still here  
All that's left of yesterday#

"Why am I so weak?" Yugi screamed, covering his ears, trying to block out the voices. It was all in vain though as they continued to reverberate in his head.

"Nobody likes you…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey shrimp, where d'ya think you're going?" Yugi sighed; he knew there was no point in trying to ignore them. That just made things worse. All he needed to do was remember the three golden rules: don't talk, don't move and whatever happens, however bad it gets, never /_ever_/ react. So he kept still, although he should have talked, should have moved, should have reacted, anything to get away from them. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, we asked you a question." Then again, sometimes there were times it was dangerous /_not_/ to talk. His grandpa had always told him that he was supposed to speak when spoken to. It was rude if you didn't.

"I wasn't going anywhere." Yugi mumbled, turning around to face his tormentors. He looked up quickly, trying to get a glance of them. All he could see was shaped brown hair and a mess of blonde. He hoped they would be quick; his grandpa had threatened to ground him if he was late again.

"Well what do we have here?" They had grabbed the Puzzle that hung around his neck. His first instinct was to grab it back again, so he did, only for a hand to snake around his wrist, squeezing it slightly.

"I don't think you want to do that…" But Yugi felt daring today, he looked up and his eyes widened just slightly at the brunette. His hair was…indescribable. If Yugi hadn't been in the position he was in, he would have laughed. But he /_was_/ the one who was currently locked in a very painful grip so he didn't react, although he was laughing on the inside. It made him feel happy at least. "Now let go…" He did so, hoping they didn't want to steal it. They lifted it up over his head and looked at it, passing it from one to the other.

"This is an interesting little trinket…" It was lifted up to eye level. "D'ya think it's worth a lot?" There was silence until Yugi realised the question was aimed at him. Always speak when spoken to.

"I don't know. Can I have it back please?"

"Wrong answer. Now we get to keep it." They started to walk away.

"No, please don't take it!" Yugi ran after them as they started to speed up.

"Then you'll have to catch us!" Yugi sighed, they knew he was no good at running, his legs were too short. But he ran anyway, he couldn't afford to lose the Millennium Puzzle, his grandpa would kill him.

For once, Yugi managed to keep up with them, well keep them in his sight anyway. He suspected the reason was that they wanted him to see what was going to happen. Which only meant it was a bad thing. He saw them up ahead before realising what they were standing in front of…the swimming pool. Oh God, it was worse than he thought…

"Please don't tell me you're going to throw it in there?" The blonde one jumped in surprise, a plop sound soon appearing afterwards. He looked behind him and smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"Oops…" He shrugged his shoulders and they started to walk towards him. Once they reached him, he held the Millennium Puzzle out to him. "Next time, we won't be here to help you…" He muttered before walking away.

Yugi stood there, watching them walk away and once they had disappeared, he glanced at the Millennium Puzzle, now missing a piece, before looking to the pool.

"What?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

#_What did they mean? Helping me? How the hell did they think that breaking off a piece of the Millennium Puzzle would help me? Don't they realise how much trouble it's been trying to hide it from my grandpa, what he would do if he found out that I had let a part of it go missing?_# There was a pause. #_Mind you, I haven't really had many problems with bullies recently… Well, apart from them and they're not that bad really, they don't hit me as much as the others do… I wonder what they're trying to do-_# Yugi's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shout. He wondered what somebody would be doing here in the corridors at lunchtime, most people were eating in the canteen, or they had gone outside.

He looked behind him to the other end of the hall and was surprised to find Joey and Tristan (he had finally learnt their names) on the floor, someone standing over them. Then he realised who it was…

"McManus…" The hall monitor that had a very…interesting way of dealing with bullies. In fact, if it wasn't for the yellow band around his arm, he would be considered one himself. As it were, he was using lunchtime as a chance for him to deal out his own form of justice and today, Joey and Tristan were the unfortunate victims. Yugi wasn't exactly sure about the politics of hall monitors but somehow, he had the feeling beating bullies to a pulp in order to teach them a lesson wasn't really the right way to go about things. The teachers did know about his bullying, but they couldn't do anything about it either because they were too scared or they never caught him at it. So in conclusion, if Yugi valued his life, he would keep out of the way. But he stayed anyway, moving a little closer to hear what they were saying.

"You little punks, picking on those smaller than yourselves! Think that's the right thing to do?" He obviously didn't expect them to answer this as he stepped closer, causing Joey and Tristan to of course step back. "You're in serious trouble, do you know that? And do you know what happens to people who are in 'serious trouble'?"

"N-No..." Joey stuttered, although he was actually fully aware what happened. After all, he had /_seen_/ the results of McManus' retribution.

"Well luckily you're about to find out now then, isn't it?" The two teens gulped at this as their backs hit the wall.

"What'll we do?" Tristan whispered.

"Shush!"

#_Oh God, what's he going to do to them? I can't leave them now, something's telling me to help them...but how?_# Yugi gripped the Millennium Puzzle unconsciously, taking in a deep breath to steady himself.

He took a few steps forward and Joey and Tristan spotted him. They shook their heads slightly, trying to tell him to turn around and walk away but he ignored them. McManus saw the looks in their eyes and turned around, spotting Yugi in the process. He grinned, eyes lighting up like an animal that's just spotted their prey.

"Well look what just showed up! It's little Yugi, just in time to watch me mop the floor with these guys." Joey and Tristan winced when they heard this and Yugi, suddenly feeling protective, ran around McManus and stood in front of them.

"Get back! Leave them alone!" He flung out his arms to cover them, staring at McManus, trying not to shake too much.

"Who's going to stop me? A little shrimp like you? I don't think so. Get lost." But Yugi was determined, it wasn't right to hurt Joey and Tristan like this. Only Yugi didn't realise that McManus merely used his position as a way of bullying without raising any suspicions.

"I won't let you, these guys are my friends." He wasn't quite sure why he had said 'friends' when they weren't and Joey seemed to think the same thing.

"Huh?" He lifted his head up to look at Yugi, puzzlement in his eyes. McManus however seemed to find this all extremely funny.

"Ok, tough guy. You jumped to the head of the line." He took a step forward while Yugi instinctively stepped backwards. "Say your prayers, you runt." He towered over Yugi and as he clenched his hand into a fist, Yugi wondered what he had done to deserve this.

The pain exploded in his stomach as the fist connected and he doubled over, only to feel agony in his face. He swore it wasn't supposed to hurt this much, people always managed to get back up on the TV. But then this was reality, completely different to the fake, unconvincing tales he had seen. Pale shadows of real life. He could feel the weakness increasing, his eyes slipping shut, although he tried to keep them open and all he could hope for as the darkness increased, was that the pain would stop.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Beep. Darkness. Beep. A voice. Beep. Numbness. Beep.

Yugi opened his eyes and automatically recognised the white walls. After all wasn't this where he had spent most of the last year, staring at, if not the same, then at least very similar white walls? The smell invaded his nose, overpowering and making him feel sick. Ironic, seeing as this place was supposed to make him better. Maybe this place made him ill because of all the memories he had of it, the blood tests, the medication, the food…

He shuddered; just the food on its own was enough to make him sick. He heard a deep voiced chuckle and looked over towards the window, only to see his grandpa sitting in a chair. He smiled gently, seeing his grandson was awake.

"Didn't think you'd be back in here so soon eh?" He suddenly frowned and sighed, looking out of the window. "Luckily they said that it would just be for two nights so you won't miss too much school."

"Not that it means much." Yugi broke the gaze between him and his grandpa, realising that he now knew everything that had happened, even after he had tried so hard to hide it.

"Now Yugi, that is not the attitude to have about your education. I know things have been a bit uneasy-" Yugi snorted at this. "/_Uneasy_/ for you recently but you'll be pleased to know that he's been expelled. And the others have now given back the piece of the Puzzle they took." Yugi blushed in embarrassment, looking at the Millennium Puzzle sitting on the table, glinting in the sunlight.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect the Puzzle." He mumbled, his cheeks bright red. "But I was too weak…"

"No Yugi/_they_/ were weak. They took it from you, you didn't give it to them." Solomon walked over to the bed and took Yugi's hands in his. "I'm very proud of what you did. You stood up to McManus in order to defend people who had hurt you in the past." Yugi felt the warmth of his grandpa's hands travelling up his arms as his words reminded him of Joey and Tristan.

"Where are Joey and Tristan?" He asked, smiling for some strange reason at the thought of them.

"Tristan's still talking to the school about what happened but Joey's waiting outside. Do you want to talk to him?"

"Yes please." Yugi pushed himself up so he was in a sitting position, leaning against the pillows. He felt a twinge of pain as he did so, and wondered how much longer it would be before the drugs wore off. "How bad is my face?"

"Well luckily you didn't break anything but your left cheek is badly bruised. They've given you some painkillers but it would be better if you didn't lie on it anyway." He stood up and walked towards the door. "Try not to be too long, the doctor wants to come in and give you a check up."

"Ok."

His grandpa left the room and Yugi lightly touched the side of his cheek. He felt a dull ache, meaning that the analgesic was starting to wear off. Although he had told him about what had happened, his grandpa hadn't /_actually_/ said how bad it was. Maybe Joey would tell him.

Just as he was thinking this, the door opened again and Joey entered the room. He shut the door behind him, his smile fading slightly when he saw Yugi.

"God Yugi, you look awful!" He gasped as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks." Yugi said sarcastically. "I'm thinking of getting rid of it though, I don't think the colours go with my eyes." He grinned as Joey laughed.

"I see what you mean!" He stopped and gazed at Yugi. "Really though, are you ok? You do look pretty bad."

"I'll be ok, it doesn't really hurt much. I think they stuffed me with painkillers so I won't feel it for a while. And anyway, I've been in hospital before so I'm used to it." He explained, looking around the room. "I just didn't think I'd be back in here so soon…"

"Why were you in here before?" Joey asked hesitantly, curiosity in his voice.

"I had this…thing. It's a bit difficult to explain; even I didn't really understand it. Basically I just felt weak all the time and my chest was pretty bad. I'm all right now but it's affected my growth because of all the drugs." Joey looked amazed as he heard this and Yugi shrugged his shoulders. "The Council were all right with it luckily so they let me go back to school."

"Things haven't been going well at school though…" Joey commented, blushing slightly because it had partially been his fault.

"Well, I sort of expected it to happen really." He shrugged his shoulders again. "But talking about that…why did you do…it?"

"You mean when we were playing keep away with the Millennium Puzzle? It was for you man." Joey followed Yugi's gaze to the Puzzle. "We just wanted to toughen you up so you could stand up to the real bullies. We were only teasing ya." Yugi raised his eyebrows at this.

"Teasing? You took a piece of the Millennium Puzzle and dropped it in the swimming pool!" Yugi replied, his voice full of indignation. "And /_I_/ was the one that tried to help you guys out when that bully picked on you." He didn't say his name, feeling uncomfortable thinking about him.

"He was a mean one all right." Joey stated, feeling himself go red as he was reminded that the person he had hurt had helped him out. He wasn't usually very good with emotions; the words always came out wrong. But, he felt that this was important and unlike most times, he couldn't just pretend it had never happened.

"You stood up for us Yugi. I'll never forget that. Because of you, we got that moron expelled." He grinned at the event, remembering the look on McManus' face when he heard this. And the reaction of his parents with them planning to send their son to a correction school. And although he had partially caused the problems, maybe he could change things. He had to be careful though; too much emotion might raise suspicion. Especially as Yugi was a member of an important family, one that had a Millennium Item in their possession. "And Tristan and I learned what it was like to have a true friend." Yugi didn't seem to react to this, his eyes merely lighting up slightly.

"Well at least you retrieved the lost Puzzle piece." He said grudgingly, smiling furtively. Joey looked at the Puzzle again before looking Yugi straight in the eyes.

"I want to apologise Yugi, I've been acting like a real jerk."

"Oh, were you /_acting/_?" Yugi grinned as Joey laughed, understanding that he wasn't angry.

"I guess I deserve that one." Joey paused. "If you ask me, I think Tristan and I may have underestimated you."

"Huh?" Yugi's eyes widened, was he trying to say what he thought he was saying? No one had ever said anything like that before.

"You know Yugi, you're a tougher kid than I ever gave you credit for." He stopped, frowning as he tried to phrase his next words. "Maybe we should hang out more often. What do you say?" Yugi's heart leapt for joy, he finally had a friend! But he couldn't get too excited, the pain in his face was starting to grow.

"Hmm." He nodded his head slightly but Joey knew how happy he really was. And he was glad he had made him happy.

"Anyway, I had better go now. Your grandpa said not to stay too long, the doctor's waiting outside to check up on you." He stood up and walked to the door.

"Hey Joey?" He stopped and turned back to him. "Say hi to Tristan for me ok?"

"Yeah, sure." He opened the door, holding it for the doctor who entered the room. "Bye Yugi, I'll see you in a couple of days' time."

"Yeah, see you then."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few weeks had passed since the incident with Bruce McManus and Yugi had settled down. Apart from the whole bullying issue, Yugi hadn't actually been to school for at least a year so he had to get used to regular homework as well as more structured lessons with other people. But he had kept on top of it all and the teachers were happy to help. The other students didn't tease him, because they saw him as a nice person. At least he hoped it was for that reason. It was more likely to be because they were afraid if they said or did anything, they would be expelled. But it didn't matter. The only thing that did was the fact he had two friends, Joey and Tristan, who he could spend time with.

Another school day had just ended and the three of them were walking home, complaining about a piece of homework they had been set in English on 'Macbeth'. Well Joey and Tristan were complaining anyway. Yugi actually liked English but maybe that was just because he liked reading. He saw it as a chance to escape from the outside world. There weren't many books he was allowed to read though, a lot seemed to have age restrictions placed on them by the Council. But when he turned twelve, which was only a couple of months away, he'd be allowed to read more. Until then, he had to just content himself with 'Macbeth'. Which, unlike Joey and Tristan, didn't bother him.

"I can't believe it! She's given us two days to do it! It's going to take me two /_months_/ just to understand what Shakespeare's actually trying to say!" Joey exclaimed as they exited out the school's front doors.

"I know the language style is different to ours, but it's not really that bad. And anyway it could be worse."

"How!"

"She could have asked it in for tomorrow." Yugi replied happily, causing Joey to yell.

"NO! Now that would be worse!"

"Exactly. Now stop moaning Joey, I'll help you with it tomorrow." Instantly Joey's face changed from that of a person who was facing the end of the world to that of someone who has just been told some great news.

"Really? Thanks Yugi!"

"Hey Yugi!"

The three of them turned around when they heard the shout to see that a girl was walking up to them. She was in their class but they didn't know much about her.

"Oh, hi Téa." Yugi said cheerfully as they slowed down so that she could catch up.

"Hi guys. I was wondering if it was ok to walk home with you." She asked once she was standing in front of them.

"Yeah, of course it is." They started walking again. "So then Téa, where you do you live?"

"Oh I live on Clive Road."

"Really? I live just around the corner from there." Yugi exclaimed.

"Cool." Téa paused for a moment and looked around, trying to think of something to talk about. "So then…what about that piece of English homework eh? Could be hard to do."

"Not /_hard/_, impossible! I just don't understand Shakespeare." Tristan replied, his sigh causing his shoulders to sag slightly.

"You can't /_understand_/ Shakespeare, he's a person! You shouldn't try to do that." Téa commented.

"Why not? If you can understand him then you can understand his work." Yugi replied.

"But maybe he didn't want people to understand his work…maybe he thought they might make assumptions about it. Wrong assumptions."

"Writing could have been his way of trying to get people to understand him. Maybe he couldn't express himself any other way."

"Well /_maybe_/ we shouldn't be questioning why he did what he did. All we can really say is that he wrote some stuff, people saw it and they liked it. End of story." Joey suddenly said, trying to change the conversation or at least steer it in a different direction.

"I think you're generalising it too much Joey…but maybe you have a point. We could be looking into it too deeply." Yugi said, understanding what Joey was trying to do and why he was doing it.

"/_Way_/ too deeply…" Tristan added, looking and sounding even more confused than Joey was.

"Well why do you like Shakespeare Yugi? You seem to be quite good at English…or at least you enjoy it." Téa asked, getting the hint it was time to move on.

"I enjoy reading so maybe that's why I'm good at it. I think the sort of things we have to think about I do anyway." Yugi said thoughtfully.

"What, including 'how does Shakespeare use rhyme here?' That's just weird!" Tristan exclaimed, earning a rolled eyes look from Téa.

"No, not that sort of stuff! I mean like general themes and how characters are portrayed. Things like that. I don't look at what is written /_that_/ closely." Yugi replied, grinning at Tristan's words.

"Well, whatever. All I know is that Macbeth is going to be horrible."

"It could be quite good. It's supposed to have madness and lots of death in it."

"Hmm, suddenly Macbeth seems a whole lot better…" Tristan commented, sounding more optimistic than before.

"Eh? If you like that sort of thing then I suppose it'll be ok…" Téa cast a strange glance at Tristan before stopping. "Well here's my road so I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

"Ok then, bye!" Yugi said, the three of them waving as she set off down her road.

Once she was gone, they continued walking. Joey and Tristan lived further away than Yugi did, whose house was down a side street. They were just reaching it when Joey said, "She seems like a nice person, Téa. Maybe we should talk to her more often." He suggested as they stopped.

"Yeah, good idea Joey." Yugi replied before saying goodbye to them and heading towards his house.

* * *

Well there you go, the prologue! Sorry it's a little bit long but originally it was over 25 000 words, which is a lot so I've split it into three. Anyway, hope you like it. Please review and give me lots of suggestions, mainly about whether this is a good introduction or not. Just giving me your support overall in fact would be great!

Thanks, love Chen xxx.


	2. Beginning the Tale

Hey guys, thanks so much for the feedback. I'd like to thank everyone!

**Yugi and Mai** – Yep, you're right, I did steal the lines from the TV show. I'm so naughty! And yes…things will get worse. I'm such an evil cow, aren't I? Thank you very much for the compliment!

**Lia Xaragi** – Ah…if you don't like sonnets then you might not like the chapter after this one. Yes, it seems very odd that you're sticking up for the shrimp but you have to admit, I was a bit nasty to him… And I would love to read your Fruits Basket fic when it's done. Is it a one-shot or multi-chapter? Hope this chapter is as good as the last one…although it is very long.

**Mai** – Thank you so much for your review, you really cheered me up! Your compliments really boosted my confidence because I thought nobody liked this story. Your review is truly appreciated.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! as usual or 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', that's Mr Shakespeare again. I do have the story though, all to myself!

**Warning**: Crude references made about food, a rather boring history lesson and Marik (well, he needs a warning just for being here). The introduction to prejudices of society is woven in here too but it's not in your face or anything. No sex though, I think.

**Note**: New feature to my story, blah is when Marik is talking in Arabic. This only features in this part though luckily. It's just because I couldn't be bothered to look up things in Arabic. You probably won't even notice it, it's only for a few sentences.

"Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs while /_blah_/ is emphasis. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter. For this chapter, >blah> is people speaking Arabic.

Now everyone is fourteen and they're starting high school, which is going to be very interesting as two new people get introduced...

(Just a note to say that this chapter is dedicated to Mai because she reassured me that I wasn't a crap writer.)

* * *

**Chapter one: Beginning the Tale**

"Eugh…why the hell am I awake at this stupid time in the morning?" Joey groaned as he, Tristan, Yugi and Téa walked to school.

"First of all Joey, it's only eight in the morning and second of all, we're starting high school so we have to get there earlier anyway." Téa explained, sighing in exasperation at Joey's moaning.

"But eight in the morning /_is_/ early for me! At this rate I'm going to have to spend the first lesson catching up on sleep!"

"Well it's not like you do anything other than sleep." Tristan interjected, causing to Joey to frown.

"Yes I do!"

"Just calm down guys! The only reason we're up this early is to find out how long it takes us to get to school. And anyway, we might see someone interesting." Yugi interrupted, not wanting to hear an argument this early in the morning. It was bad enough that he had disputes with his grandpa about Téa, who he insisted he shouldn't talk to because she was a girl. He couldn't really understand the problem though, it wasn't like he was going to jump Téa or anything. In fact the thought of that just made Yugi shiver.

"Well I hope we see something/_any_/thing, interesting or you might have to carry me home on a stretcher." Joey replied, causing the others to laugh.

"Only if they had one big enough." Unable to think of a comeback, Joey merely glared at Tristan.

Fifteen minutes later and they reached Domino High School. Although they had always thought their school was large, this building was the definition of /_big_/. There were at least three blocks, each one made up of three floors with staircases connecting them as well as patches of grass, dotted with benches. There were people flowing in through the gates, like leaves on a river, occasionally caught up by the rocks known as their friends. Despite this, there were very specific areas made up of royal blue and pink, the attitudes of the society firmly fixed in their minds. The gates opened up to a large path leading to the main doors with grass on either side, your typical American high school.

Unsure of where to go, the four of them milled around on the grass, waiting until something happened that indicated where they were supposed to go.

"Well this is boring…" Joey said, slumping down onto the ground.

"Oh so we're eager to get into school now are we?" Téa asked.

"No! I just hate waiting around, that's all." Joey pointed out and Yugi nodded in agreement.

"Me too. I just want to get this day over and done with." Yugi said, sitting down on the grass next to Joey.

"Well we've only got ten minutes until the bell goes so something's got to happen soon." Tristan said hopefully.

Just as he said this, they saw someone walking in their direction, no, make that towards them. They stared; they had never seen anyone like him before. (Note from Chen: Can you guess who it is from the description?) Long, wheat coloured hair that reached his shoulders, gold chokers around his neck and dangly gold earrings. His most prominent feature though was his lavender coloured eyes. Yugi's eyes were considered strange enough when they first saw him but this boy's eyes were even weirder. For as well as being purple, they had odd marks underneath them, flicking out from the corners of his eyes, going across before flicking inwards.

He stopped when he reached them and looked around, almost seeming to not realise they were there. A second later though he faced them and smiled.

"Hey are you new too?" His accent was strange and nobody knew what it was apart from Yugi.

"Yeah we are. Your accent…where are you from?" Téa replied, the question making the boy smile.

"Egypt." He looked at Yugi, who had said it at nearly the same time as him. "Wow, you're the first person who's known straight away."

"Well my grandpa talks to Shadi occasionally and-" He stopped, seeing the boy looking interested.

"I assume this is /_the_/ Shadi. How does your grandpa know him?" Ah, problem. You weren't supposed to tell anybody about the Item you held unless you trusted them. Apart from grandpa, Téa, Tristan and Joey were the only people who knew. "After all, Shadi is an important person, what with having the Scale and Key. Which must mean you have one of three: Eye, Puzzle or Ring. Well I know for a fact it's not the Eye, he disappeared a long time ago so two left. Like to enlighten me on which one it is?" The others stared at him, shocked. Not many people had such knowledge of the Items. The most anybody knew was that were seven Millennium Items and some people had them. So unless he was an obsessive, that meant…

"You have an Item too." As soon as Yugi said this, he noticed a glimmer inside Marik's jacket, the Item being revealed. It would only happen if the person so wished it or if they told someone they had it. Which wasn't that often, it was a risky thing to do.

"That must mean you have…the Rod." Téa said slowly and as soon as Yugi heard this he backed away slightly.

"You have the Rod?" He squeaked. The other three stared at him; they didn't know what its ability was. But Yugi did and it scared him.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to use it on you. Why would I anyway, Puzzle boy?" It glowed slightly as it was revealed and Yugi sighed.

"Yep, I have the Puzzle. But don't tell anyone please."

"Of course I won't as long as you don't tell anyone about the Rod. I don't want people cowering every time they see me."

"Why would they cower?" Tristan asked.

"Because you can mind control people with it." He whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Really? Have you ever used it before?" Joey said, sounding fascinated and frightened at the same time.

"Only once and it was horrible…I don't really want to talk about it." They remained silent for a moment, uneasy at what he had said until Yugi said thoughtfully,

"I've only used the Puzzle once too. Remember that time when we were threatened by that armed robber?" The others nodded their heads, the memory of what happened running through their heads. "I used it on him then, but I didn't know how much power I was using so I killed him by accident."

"So that's why he…" Joey said aloud, tailing off when the image of the man lying on the ground came into their minds.

"Yeah… So then-" Yugi suddenly stopped, realising he didn't know what the boy's name was.

"Marik Ishtar." He kindly offered and Yugi smiled in thanks.

"I'm Yugi and these three are Joey, Tristan and Téa." He pointed at the others before turning back to Marik. "Do you know where we're supposed to go?"

"You mean you haven't gotten your stuff yet?"

"No. Is that bad?" Téa asked nervously.

"We've got a few minutes, we should be ok." He started to walk towards the school and the others followed him.

They entered the building and while they looked around at all the lockers and how big the main hall was, Marik appeared uninterested as he led them to an office. Inside was a woman sitting at a desk, surrounded by filing cabinets and various pieces of paper, leaving just enough space on the desk for a couple of framed photographs and a computer. She looked up when she heard them enter and smiled kindly.

"Hello, I assume you want your timetables etc." They nodded their heads and it was then she spotted Marik. "You looking forward to school so much you want another timetable Marik?" Seeing the others' faces, she laughed. "Don't worry, I live just down the road. My daughter and his sister are good friends." She shook her head and laughed again. "So then, what are your names?"

"Yugi Muto." She looked through the pieces of paper until she found his. She did the same with the others and just as she was giving Téa hers, the bell went.

"Just go up the stairs outside this room and your homeroom is on the left, second one along." They thanked her before making their way to their room.

As they did so, they looked at what they had been given and they saw a timetable as well as a combination number for their lockers. They entered their homeroom and saw that some people were milling around, talking to each other while others had sat down.

"Window seats!" Joey and Tristan said excitedly, running to make sure they got them.

"Don't worry, that's normal." Téa said to reassure Marik as they followed them to the tables they were now sat at. They had just settled down when the teacher walked into the classroom and across to her desk at the front.

"Good morning students, my name is Miss Abrahams and I am your form tutor. I will be taking the register with you in the morning and afternoon as well as keeping an eye on how you are doing in your subjects. You will be seeing each other a lot as you will have most of your classes together, except for maths, D.T. and P.E. and I will be teaching you for history in here. As it is the first day of the school year, you will be missing the first two lessons in order to get everything sorted out." She paused and looked around the classroom, noting the number of empty desks. "Is everyone else lost?"

In answer to this, the door opened and a group of about ten students walked in, looking sheepish when they noticed that everyone else was sitting down.

"Sorry miss but we got lost." One of them said nervously as they stood bunched at the door.

"Don't worry, it's only your first day so I expected some of you to get lost. Please sit down." They did so quickly and she faced the whole class. "That looks better. Now then, for those of you who have only just come in, I was just telling the others that I am your form tutor and will be looking after you this year and that most of your classes are together apart from maths, D.T. and P.E. Oh, I forgot to mention that after the first term, all of your lessons will be put into sets apart from English, IT, Art and Music. The first two lessons are cancelled in order for you to get settled in. Now that all of that is done, I can take the register."

She did so and then allowed them to talk for a few minutes while she went to find out what had happened to a student who was still missing. The group got out their timetables and looked at them to see what they had.

"Well we've got history after break, so that's all right." Marik commented and Tristan pulled a face.

"Yuck…history." His comment was drowned out by Joey though who took one look at his timetable and screamed.

"NO! Maths, science /_and_/ English! I don't think we've got a worse day than today!" The rest of the class turned around to stare at him while Téa gave him a glare.

"Joey, will you control yourself!"

"I must admit, I'm not enjoying the prospect of maths." Yugi said to diffuse the situation while Marik looked on with interest.

"It might be ok, hopefully the teacher won't drop us in the deep end. And anyway, we're in sets so they'll work to our pace."

"That's a point, how do we know what sets we're in?" Tristan asked.

"It says on the timetable…" They looked at their schedules and it turned out that Marik and Téa were in set two, Yugi was in set three and Joey and Tristan were in set four.

"Typical, we're in the dumbo set." Joey muttered and Yugi smiled comfortingly.

"Don't worry Joey, if you both work hard enough then you can ask them to move you up."

"Yeah, you're right Yuug. We'll be with you in no time." He cheered up after this. "So then, what about this missing person?"

"Well I don't remember them going to our school. What about you Marik?"

"Huh?" He looked up at Téa and frowned. "No, I don't recognise them…"

"Oh well, I'm sure they'll turn up." Yugi shrugged his shoulders as Miss Abrahams walked into the room.

"Right class, you can put your stuff in your lockers now if you want. You should have your numbers and combinations. You're allowed to put pictures etcetera in them but don't graffiti them please." People started standing up, objects in their hands as they made their way out of the classroom. "You'll find them just outside this room."

The rest of the two lessons went slowly, but at least it gave the four of them more of a chance to find out things about Marik. Soon it was break and they decided to try and find out where the maths rooms were so they didn't embarrass themselves by getting lost. As they were doing so, they saw a girl ahead of them who smiled when she saw them and walked up to them.

"So how's my little baby brother doing?" She said in a puerile voice, causing Marik to frown and cross his arms.

"Fuck off Ishizu, I'm not a baby. For a start off you're only two years older than me." Marik growled in return, causing her to gasp.

"Marik, don't swear! And you're a baby because you insist on acting like that." She said and it was then she noticed the others standing there in silence staring at her. "Aren't you going to introduce your friends to me then?"

"Oh yeah. This is Yugi, Tristan, Joey and Téa." Marik said casually. "We're all in the same class. Guys, this is my sister Ishizu. She's in grade eleven."

"Hi." They said quietly and she laughed.

"Don't be so nervous, I'm not going to bite you!" She looked at her watch and sighed. "Break's nearly over."

"Hey Ishizu, do you know where the maths room are?"

"You got that next?" Marik nodded his head. "They're in the building there on the middle floor. They're in order so it should be easy to work out which one is which." She explained.

"Thanks sis. We'd better get going now." They turned to leave but she stopped them, saying,

"Oh Marik, I won't be walking after school so Odion will pick you up instead." Marik blushed furiously at this.

"What? I'm old enough to walk home on my own!" He yelled, stamping his foot on the ground as his eyes flashed in anger.

"You may be old enough, physically if not mentally, but it isn't safe and you know why." She snapped back, crossing her arms.

"Well Yugi doesn't need someone to walk him home!" He argued.

"Marik!" Yugi squeaked, knowing Marik had just broken his word.

"And why does that support your argument?"

"Because Yugi has a Millennium Item too." Marik said triumphantly, causing Yugi to sigh. Marik noticed his face and smiled. "Don't worry, Ishizu knows all about the Items, she has one too."

"The Necklace…" Ishizu admitted, although she kept it hidden. "But Marik, that isn't the point! Yugi walks home with other people and you don't!"

"What if I found someone to walk home with?"

"I don't know Marik, you'd have to talk to mum. And anyway, you haven't seen Odion for weeks and when he finally gets a day off you don't want to see him! You ungrateful little brat!" She said angrily, her voice rising.

"He's probably only doing it because mum told him to! He doesn't care about me, he just doesn't want to get it in the neck from her." Marik replied, causing Ishizu to sigh.

"He does care about you. He wanted to see you today because it was your first day of school and he had to get special permission from-"

"He shouldn't have to get permission from that bastard! He acts like he's more important than his own family is." Ishizu sniffed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well whatever Marik. Just be civil to him when you see him ok?"

"Fine." He said before walking off.

The others stood there for a moment, not sure what to do or even what had just happened. They turned to Ishizu and she smiled tiredly, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. Marik can…be like that sometimes."

"This may sound rude but what was that about?" Téa asked.

"Our brother Odion works as a body guard for Shadi and well…we haven't seen him much recently. Apparently Shadi's been getting a bit restless so Odion hasn't been able to get a lot of time off. Marik loves him really but they always used to be together and now he hardly sees him anymore. I think he feels jealous…" She explained. "And in a way, I think Marik blames Odion for what's happened recently."

"What do you mean?" Yugi said but Ishizu shook her head.

"That really isn't up to me to tell you. Try not to be too hard on him, he's been through a lot in the last year, stuff he shouldn't have to go through at his age." He looked like he was going to ask her another question but she stopped him. "He'll tell you when he wants to." The bell went and she looked around, as though surprised by it. "Well I'd better get going. See you sometime maybe."

She continued down the corridor and the others stood there for a moment in silence before making their back to their form room and history. When they arrived, they found Marik sitting at his desk, leaning on his elbows as he stared down at the wood. He didn't look up when they sat down at their desks, he didn't even move. Téa got up from her seat and knelt in front of Marik, looking up at him.

"Marik?" His eyes flickered in her direction but he couldn't hold her gaze and he continued to look downwards. "We'll talk at lunch ok?" He nodded his head slightly and being satisfied, she sat back down at her desk. Just then the teacher walked into the room and waited until the class had quietened down before speaking.

"Right students, for this term we'll be studying the Great Depression." This signalled lots of groans from everyone and Miss Abrahams sighed. "I know you think it's boring but you'll be tested on it at the end of the term so you need to know it."

"But Miss, some of us have done this before." Someone called out and she raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so? Then /_some of you_/ should be able to tell me what the causes of it are. And no calling out." She wrote 'Causes of the Depression' on the board before drawing a circle around it. She let the class copy it out before continuing. "So then, can anyone tell me the causes?" There was silence, obviously those who had done it before couldn't remember. "Nobody?" Marik sighed and put up his hand. "Yes Marik?"

"What about the Wall Street Crash?" He suggested.

"Yes, that was a very important factor. Can anyone tell me about the Wall Street Crash?"

"It was caused by a loss of confidence in the market." Someone said, their hand in the air.

"That is true but why was there a loss of confidence?" She persisted and was met again by silence.

"Because important investors started selling their stuff and that panicked everyone as they thought that something must be going on. As well as lots of selling, there was no buying, resulting in share prices crashing." Marik said in a bored voice, causing everyone to stare at him in surprise.

"Yes…that's right Marik. Any other suggestions?" Although she didn't specify Marik, it was obvious that it was he she meant.

"There was corruption in the banking system, no proper regulations and this meant that people could still buy and sell with huge debts. They were using money they didn't have."

"This is excellent Marik. And you have also touched on another important point. The type of market is also important. At this point, the stock market was known as a 'bull market'." She paused as the class wrote this down, looking around. "Would anyone like to guess what it is? Marik?"

"I don't know, I've never studied the Great Depression before." He said, shrugging his shoulders, causing her to gasp.

"Then how come you know so much?"

"Guesswork mostly." He said, trying to sound casual although the others could tell he was blushing in embarrassment.

"Well it's very good guesswork. Does anyone else have an idea as to what a bull market is?" She looked at Marik, impressed.

"A bull market is where there is lots of buying and selling." Joey suddenly piped up and Téa looked at him in surprise. He'd never willingly given an answer to anything before, as he had a perpetual fear of being wrong. But from the look on Miss Abrahams' face, he was right.

"Well done Joey! Do you know much about the stock market?"

"Only what my uncle tells me." He said quietly and she looked at him expectantly. "The stock market is where shares are bought and sold. Shares are things that show the value of a company and they can go up and down in price depending on how the business is doing. If things are going very well, it's called a boom but if it's not so well, it's called a bust, or depression if it's very bad. It can be affected by lots of things, like foreign affairs, social and economic conditions etc." He stopped, realising how long he had been talking for and Miss Abrahams continued from where he left off.

"At the time, foreign affairs were not good. Because of high import prices and America's theory of standing alone, many countries in Europe refused to trade with them. The attitudes of the people were that if you weren't involved in shares, you were a nobody. Therefore everyone was involved, even if they didn't have money to do so. As Marik has said, there was no regulation so people could keep on getting loans. When the banks started calling them back in, nobody could pay them back, causing large amounts of money to be lost."

Just then the bell went and Miss Abrahams looked up in surprise. Had the lesson really gone that quickly? Everyone started to pack away, standing up so they could leave as quickly as possible.

"For homework I want you to make sure your notes on the Wall Street Crash are complete. I will be taking them in next lesson so don't think you can just forget about them." Cue another groan from the class. The five of them left the room and made their way to the maths rooms.

"Wow Marik, I don't know anyone who's so good at history." Tristan said in awe.

"Well…as I said, I just guessed most of the stuff. Some it was general things I knew anyway." He said quietly, blushing again.

"Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about! I think it's cool you're so good at something." Yugi said comfortingly. "And Joey, a man of the stock market. I didn't know you were interested in that stuff."

"Yeah, they're called traders but I'm not interested. My uncle keeps trying to get me involved even though he knows how bad at that sort of stuff I am." Joey said quickly, shaking his head so his hair covered his face.

"Well maths now…where are we going to go for lunch?" Téa asked.

"I have to go and buy something-"

"You're going to risk eating the crap they serve in there?" Marik interrupted. "My sister told me about the food, most of the time you can't recognise anything in it."

"I must admit, even I brought lunch with me today." Yugi added, causing Joey's face to fall.

"But you always buy lunch!"

"I wasn't going to risk getting food poisoning! I was going to use you as a guinea pig and if you're ok and the cooking's decent, I'll continue buying my food." Yugi explained.

"I wouldn't worry anyway Joey, you have a stomach of steel. Remember that time when that milk was off? You're the only person who didn't get ill as a result of it." Tristan said as they reached the maths rooms.

"Why don't you get your lunch as quickly as possible Joey and we'll meet you outside the canteen? Maybe we can go and eat on the grass."

"Good idea Yugi. But we have to survive maths first." Joey looked at the door with a sense of foreboding and Tristan rolled his eyes as he grabbed Joey's arm and entered the room.

"We'll see you guys later."

By the time the others found Joey at lunchtime, he was shaking and looked very pale. Apparently, according to Tristan, maths had been a lot worse than first thought. The fact that he ended up with something that looked like slurry for lunch didn't really help either. They found a patch of grass outside and sat down, while Joey collapsed.

"I now actually hate maths. I didn't understand anything we were doing this lesson!" He exclaimed dramatically.

"Joey, we only went through what we're doing this year." Tristan scolded.

"Exactly! It's just going to get worse!" He sighed, lying on his back. "I think I'm going to need extra help again Téa."

"We'll see ok. If it means I have to spend two hours trying to explain trigonometry to you again, I don't think I want to help you." She said, causing Marik to giggle.

"Trigonometry is one of the easiest things in maths!"

"My point exactly. Imagine how long it took me to try and explain the cosine rule to him."

"Don't mention that terrible thing!" Joey screamed, grabbing his head in agony.

"And /_someone_/ isn't overreacting…" Marik muttered, rolling his eyes as he took his lunch out. Joey spotted it and his eye began to twitch when he saw the…greenness of it.

"What's wrong with your lunch? It's got green stuff in it!" Joey yelled, leaping away from it.

"Err…nothing's wrong with it. This is what I normally eat." He said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Is this normal behaviour too?"

"Oh yeah, we forgot to warn you that Joey has an allergy to green things. Especially if it's in a salad or roast dinner." Téa said, trying to stop herself from getting hysterical.

"I'll remember that for next time…" By now Marik was seriously wondering what he had got himself in for, talking to these people. He smiled; at least he had someone to talk to. "Want a bit of carrot?" He asked suddenly, holding out a piece of the orange vegetable to him.

"No, keep it away from me!"

"What's wrong with it? It's not green." Marik asked innocently, despite the evil smile on his face. He popped it into his mouth, only to nearly choke on it when he saw Joey's face.

"I can't believe you actually just ate that and then looked like you enjoyed it too!" Joey shouted, using his bag as a shield. "Stay away from me you mutant!"

"Oh really Joey, you're so stupid sometimes!"

"At least I don't eat that filth!" Joey retaliated. Marik merely shook his head and continued to eat his lunch. "And anyway, how does that fill you up? If I had to live on salad, I'd die of starvation."

"I have pasta too." Marik said cheerfully, causing Joey to shudder. "I just eat properly, that's all. Otherwise you get really unhealthy."

"That's the thing Marik. He may eat lots of crap but he's a great sportsman, he used to be on the football team back in junior high." Yugi explained.

"Ooh…well you just have a high metabolism. I don't, I balloon in weight if I'm not careful." He shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, you may moan about my lunch but what about yours? It looks like it's come out of a cow's backside."

"You have to admit Joey, he's right. I wouldn't eat that stuff if you paid me a million dollars." Tristan peered at it closely, holding his nose. "What's it supposed to be anyway?"

"It's /_supposed_/ to be curry although now you mention it, it does look like some sort of animal waste. Oh well, looks like I go hungry." As he said this, his stomach growled loudly and he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh Joey, what would we do without you? We can't let you starve." Téa said, passing over her sandwiches. "They're not your favourite but nevermind." Joey stared at them for a moment before grinning madly.

"Thanks Téa! It doesn't matter what's in them, as long as they're edible!"

"I don't think they even have to be edible…" Yugi muttered, smiling quietly to himself.

"So then Marik…what's Odion like? Ishizu told us he's your brother." Téa said hesitantly and Marik frowned, hearing his name.

"I wouldn't know what he's like, I haven't seen him in months." He said bitterly, looking downwards.

"But you get to see him today."

"So what? Whenever I see him, he never asks me how I am or anything, all he can talk about is Shadi and what's happening in the council. As if I care."

"Then why don't you tell him you don't want to talk about those things?"

"You think I haven't tried? He can never remember/_Shad_i/ takes up all his time." He said his name like it was poison in his mouth and that he was slowly dying every time he uttered it.

"Marik, why do you hate Shadi so much?"

"Because my brother thinks he's more important than I am!"

"You're jealous of him…"

"Of course I am! I looked up to him; he kept us all safe when my dad died. And now I don't see him anymore…"

"It's not that though, is it? There's something else…" Téa said, peering closely at Marik. He avoided her gaze, making it obvious that there was but he wouldn't reveal what it was.

"There's nothing else…nothing I want to talk about."

"But there is /_something_/." Téa said triumphantly. "Look Marik, if you want /_we'll_/ talk to Odion for you."

"Why do you think you'll make a difference? If his family can't then I doubt you can either."

"But we're strangers. We're your friends so maybe he'll feel he has to give off a good impression. We won't say much, just that you're a bit down so he should concentrate on you and make sure you're ok." Téa suggested and Marik looked at her, interested by what she had said.

"And you would do that?"

"Of course we would, we're your friends. We don't want you to be mad at your brother, family is one of the most important things in your life, it's not worth hating them." She explained and Marik smiled.

"Thanks."

The bell went and Joey and Tristan sighed, knowing they had science and English to survive before they could go home.

It turned out that science, a subject that most of them disliked could be split into three further things: biology, chemistry and physics. Which didn't impress Joey too much. Especially when he found out that there was a textbook for each one. And they would need to take their lab coats to every lesson. The only thing which made the whole situation better was the fact that they also discovered there was something called a Bunsen burner and that it could be used to set fire to a large number of things. As if this wasn't bad enough, Joey found out that /_yet_/ again, they would be doing Shakespeare in English, this time 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. And it didn't even have any blood in it, only a man with an ass' head. So by the time school ended, Joey was ready to throw himself out of a window, although this wouldn't have done much since they were on the ground floor. Marik seemed happy though, maybe it was because of what had happened at lunch.

They had agreed that Marik would 'go back to his locker' while the others went to find Odion and tell him that Marik would be along in a minute. They stood outside the school and looked around for a man fitting Marik's description of him: big, with dark hair in a ponytail and a big scar on his face. He had reassured them that Odion was kind and gentle really but they were still cautious when they finally found him, standing outside the school gate. In the end, Yugi rolled his eyes at Joey and Tristan's refusal to go near him and went up to him first instead.

"Hi, are you Marik's brother?" He asked cheerfully, trying not to let his fear show. Especially as there was a height difference of several inches i.e. twelve, between them. He looked down in surprise, he didn't realise they let ten year olds in to high school.

"Hello, who are you?" He asked, his accent even stronger than Marik's. Must be all that time he spent with Shadi.

"My name is Yugi Muto, I'm a friend of Marik's. He says that he'll be out in a minute, he left his history homework in his locker. We told him to keep it in his bag but he didn't want to carry his folder any further than necessary. Which meant he left it behind of course." Yugi continued to jabber, hoping that someone else would say something at any point in the next year or so. He was struggling to think coherently at the moment.

"Well thank you for telling me. Are you all friends of Marik's?" He indicated Joey, Tristan and Téa who were standing behind Yugi for protection, although Yugi wouldn't have proved much use, what with the height thing and all.

"Yes, we are." Téa replied politely, not wanting to get him irate.

"It's good to know he's making friends. I haven't seen him much recently, I've had a lot of work." Odion commented.

"You mean protecting Shadi? Marik told us about it, that's why he was upset earlier because he said that-" Yugi started but was soon stopped when he felt metal against his neck. Hr glanced down, squinting at the glare of the knife.

>Odion, what are you doing?> They heard Marik yell out, although they couldn't make out the words he said. They were in a different language or something.

>Marik, you told them about what I do! You know you're not supposed to, it's dangerous!> Odion bellowed, although he loosened his grip a bit, not wanting to upset his brother.

>For a start off, it was Ishizu who said it and anyway Yugi is the grandson of Solomon Muto. He holds the Millennium Puzzle. The others know about it, they know that Ishizu and me have Items too.> Marik explained quickly, his voice rising. >Now let him go, unless you want to explain to his grandfather why he's dead!>

>I'm sorry Marik, I didn't realise…> He let go of Yugi and he backed away, looking frightened at what had happened. His grandpa had warned him that something like this might happen, but he thought it wouldn't really. He turned to stare at Marik, confused by what was going on.

"Are you ok Yugi?" He asked and Yugi nodded faintly, avoiding his eyes.

"I am sorry, I did not realise you were Solomon's grandson. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, I apologise." Odion said sombrely, putting the knife away.

"Err…would someone care to explain what the hell just happened? And what were you speaking in?" Joey interrupted, getting a weird look from Odion.

"We were speaking in Arabic and when Yugi said about protecting Shadi, I jumped to the conclusion that you were trying to hurt him. I'm getting too paranoid; it's his fault really. Getting all jumpy about the Millennium Ring this time." Odion explained.

"What have I said about carrying weapons when you're near me? You know I don't like them." Marik said distastefully and Odion smiled apologetically.

"I forgot, again. I'm forgetting everything recently but I think your friends may have reminded me of a few important things. Such as you. I'm sorry I haven't seen you recently, mum told me you were upset with me." He looked down at Marik and he smiled, stepping forward but suddenly he stopped and looked fearful. "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

"Are you sure?" Marik asked and Odion nodded his head. Marik smiled again before launching himself into Odion's arms, hugging him tightly. "I missed you." He whispered as Odion put his arms around Marik too. The others, realising that they should go now, said goodbye to him before making their way home.

The two of them stood like this for a little while, Odion holding Marik in his protective hug. With twelve years difference between them, Odion felt like his father in a way, which he had been since his real one had died. He taught Marik lots of things about life and Marik listened, knowing they would come useful in future.

"So then…" Odion finally said, letting go of Marik. "How was your day?"

"It was ok. Most of my lessons were boring; I had history, maths, English and science. I'm in set two for maths. Joey made science and English quite interesting though, he nearly chucked himself out of the window when he heard that we were doing Shakespeare. I don't think he likes English very much. And when he found out we have three textbooks for science…" Marik laughed, the image of Joey's indignant face coming into his mind. "His face was a picture! And then at lunchtime he went into this whole thing about my lunch and then wouldn't eat his because it looked like slurry." He continued to gush, excited that he could finally tell Odion about things that were happening to him.

"This Joey sounds very funny… Your friends look like nice people." Odion commented, knowing not to interrupt Marik for too long.

"They are nice. Joey's really silly; he makes me laugh all the time. Téa's the one who made me feel better at lunch-"

"Yes, she told me something had happened. What was it?"

"Ishizu told me that you were picking me up at break and I got really mad so I just left and she told them some stuff. She talked to me and suggested that she would mention something to you, to make you realise that I was upset. Didn't really work though, Yugi tried and then…" He trailed off, not wanting to talk about what had happened.

"So what are the other two like?" Odion asked, not seeming to notice the uneasiness in Marik's voice.

"Tristan is ok, he's quiet and doesn't say much but Téa told me that him and Joey have been friends for a long time and that he's always there to back them up." Marik paused. "Yugi is…I don't know. He's really thoughtful, always aware of what's going on. He may be short but he's got a big heart, he helped Joey and Tristan out a long time ago when they were bullying him and they've been friends with him ever since."

"He was bullied?"

"Yeah, his size doesn't really help him. He said that he had something wrong with him when he was younger to do with his chest and the drugs he was given sort of stunted his growth."

"Yes, Solomon said something like that to me. I didn't see him much then though, he spent all his time with Yugi, he was really afraid that he might die."

"I'm glad he didn't." They walked in silence for a while, enjoying the sunshine. "When I told him about the Rod, he was really scared of me because he thought I was going to mind control him." Marik laughed at that, although he stopped quickly. Odion looked at him and was shocked to see he was crying.

"Marik, what's wrong?" He asked, pulling him into a hug.

"He didn't even know me but because I told him I had the Rod, he didn't want to go anywhere near me! He judged me because I had it!" He sobbed, leaning his head on Odion's chest. "Odion, I don't want people to be scared of me for the rest of my life! I don't want to be alone."

"Shush Marik, you won't be alone. Yugi's not afraid of you now, is he? They're only scared of you because they don't understand. One day you'll meet someone who won't be afraid and when that happens, you'll never be alone again." Odion said comfortingly.

"When?"

"I don't know Marik but it will happen, I promise." Marik looked up and smiled at him, wiping his eyes.

"Thanks Odion." He whispered. Odion merely smiled before they continued their way home, talking about what they had both done recently.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few days passed and the five of them had settled down into the daily routine of school, although Joey continued to wonder at Marik's ability to live on salad and pasta for days on end. It was a Tuesday and the group had just entered the homeroom, which was now half full. They perched on their usual desks and started on the moan of the morning: P.E. Double P.E.

"I never understood the rules of football, I'd never even heard of it until I moved here. They automatically assumed I knew everything about it…" Marik commented.

"Then how do you survive in P.E.?" Yugi asked.

"I know what I'm not supposed to do so I can usually get myself sent off within the first five minutes." Marik grinned slyly while Tristan raised an eyebrow.

"And you do that every week?"

"I have 'anger problems' according to the record they keep here so most of the time, they don't make me play, unless it's a new teacher who hasn't bothered to read them." Marik explained.

"Hey, then you might be with me! They won't let me play football because of my height and all the health problems I had when I was younger." Yugi said.

"Looks like it's just me and you then Joey."

"I don't mind, I love P.E.! The only thing I don't like about it is gym."

"Which is what I'll be doing for most of the year! I hate netball too, it's so stupid. Why can't they just let me do dance for a whole year?" Téa sighed.

"Téa's really good at dance, she does it out of school." Yugi said to Marik.

"Hey guys, have you heard?" They looked over at the direction of the voice and noticed a boy named Andrew standing in front of them. "Apparently they found the missing student! They've been stuck in England for the last week. Looks like they'll be sitting next to you Téa." He said before going back to his friends.

"Stuck in England? Where's England?" Tristan asked and when he got raised eyebrows, he threw up his hands. "What? You know I'm bad at geography."

"It's in western Europe, in the island of Britain." Téa explained.

"Oh, Britain! I know where /_that_/ is."

Tristan was saved from further embarrassment by the bell and they sat at their desks, wondering what this new person was like, as was the rest of their class. Miss Abrahams entered the classroom with someone behind her but they couldn't see them properly (Note from Chen: Guess what peeps, it's another 'can you work out who it is' game!). The only thing they could see was snowy white hair and the blue uniform of the school. As the teacher stood at the front of the classroom, they could finally see the person. Their white hair reached their shoulders, framing their pale face and large brown eyes. Somebody wondered if they were a girl wearing the wrong uniform while others just stared in shock.

"Class, this is Ryou Bakura and he's from England." She turned to Ryou and noticed he looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. You can fit next to Téa, I'm sure she and her friends will be happy to show you around." He merely nodded his head before walking towards the empty desk.

"Oh man, it's a boy? He's not going to last a week in this place, he'll be beaten to a pulp!" Joey whispered in amazement, receiving a glare from Téa.

"I hate to say it Téa but he's right. Trust us, we know these things…" Tristan added quietly, just as Ryou reached his seat. He stared at them silently, fear in his eyes and so Téa smiled to put him at ease.

"Hi Ryou, I'm Téa and this is Joey, Tristan, Yugi and Marik." He looked at Marik with interest but it went back to fear when Marik met his gaze.

"Hi." He said shortly.

"So why have you moved to Domino then?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know really. I just go where my dad tells me to. I've been to a lot places in my life." Téa smiled to herself, she loved the British accent.

"So where have you been?"

"Japan, Australia, Greece, Brazil, Egypt-"

"Egypt? That's where Marik's from!" Téa exclaimed and Ryou glanced at Marik again.

"Marik Ishtar? Weren't you the one who put everyone's biscuits in their milk at nursery school?" Marik laughed in embarrassment.

"Err…yeah, that was me. I'm surprised you remember that." Ryou shrugged his shoulders, as though trying to remove the five pairs of eyes that were staring at him.

"So you were a terror as a child too then?" Joey said jokingly to Marik.

"So then Ryou, what set are you in for maths?" He frowned at Tristan. "Get out your timetable, it'll be on there." He did so and looked at it for a moment.

"Set three."

"Great, you're with me!" Yugi exclaimed. "Do you have an excuse for P.E. too?"

"P.E.? We've got that today?" Ryou practically squeaked, looking very panicky.

"Don't look so worried, it's only football. You can do what I do, use your ignorance of the rules to get yourself sent off in the first five minutes." Marik suggested, now beginning to get worried himself at the look on Ryou's face. "Anyway, it's after break so you've got a couple of hours of freedom yet."

They eventually went off to their first lesson of the day, maths, before going to geography. Break time came around and the group went out of the classroom to find their lockers and P.E. kits. It was only when they got to them that they realised that Ryou had disappeared. Deciding that he would turn up eventually, they grabbed their kits and made their way over to the changing rooms. When they arrived, Téa waved goodbye before making her way over to where the other girls were. The others went to the boys' room where they found a man waiting by the door with a clipboard in his hands.

"Football this half term boys so make sure you have the right kit on. Names please?" They did so and when he heard Yugi's, he turned to him. "Ah yes, I know you don't do football. Do you have any work you could be getting on with?"

"I have some maths homework." Yugi said.

"Well you can do some of that then. Right boys, off you go." They went to a fairly empty part of the changing room and placed their P.E. kits on the bench.

"Well he seems all right." Tristan commented.

"Yeah, unfortunately he seems like the sort of teacher who's willing to explain to you the rules." Marik said despondently, making the others smile.

"I'm sure you'll be ok at football." Joey said.

"I don't think I was built for football, I'm too short and skinny." Marik said, putting his shirt on as if to prove the point. Which it did in a way as it practically swamped him.

"You think you're short and skinny?" Yugi piped up and Marik smiled nervously.

"Ok, so maybe not compared to you but against to those good at it I am." He shrugged his shoulders before kneeling beside the pile of clothes that were his. "Yugi, can you look after the Rod for me? I wouldn't normally bother but Shadi's aggravated, which has made Odion aggravated and now I am too. It's infectious."

"Not here I assume?" Yugi asked, indicating the number of people nearby.

"In the toilets. Let's do it now." Just as he said that, they heard the teacher shout,

"Yugi, could I have a word with you please?" Marik looked worried when he heard this but Yugi just shrugged his shoulders.

"Marik, meet me in the restroom, I'll be as quick as I can." Yugi said and they went off in their separate directions. Yugi reached the teacher and looked up at him. "Yes sir?"

"Could you have a look around for a student please? His name is Ryou Bakura and I haven't seen him yet." Yugi was surprised at this, although he did his best not to show it.

"Yeah, I'll see if I can find him." Yugi went back through the changing room, looking around as he made his way to the restroom. Although he had to find Ryou, he thought he might as well do this at the same time.

He entered the restroom and found Marik standing at the end one with the door in a position where you couldn't see anyone and it didn't look suspicious either. Marik was standing behind it and smiled when he saw Yugi.

"What did he want?"

"Ryou hasn't turned up so I have to go look for him." Marik looked surprised, frowning.

"But he was in class this morning…" He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe he just got lost. Here, you'd better take the Rod now." He revealed it but as he did so, they both sensed something. Another Millennium Item. Instantly they became edgy and Marik pushed Yugi behind him before holding the Rod out and peering around the door.

"What do you think it is?" Yugi whispered.

"I don't know but someone's in here too. Can you hear them?" They stood silent for a moment and they could hear someone breathing faintly.

Marik walked out of the cubicle and sidled towards the locked door, Yugi pressed up against his back. They saw it and bracing himself, Marik barged the door with his shoulder, only to hear someone squeak on the other side.

"Don't crush me please!"

"Ryou? What are you doing in there?" Marik said in surprise as they heard a click, the door being unlocked. Marik pushed it open and found Ryou sitting on the floor, knees against his chest, looking even paler than usual. He then saw what was in the toilet. "Yuck!" He jumped backwards, crashing into Yugi who was shocked to say the least.

"What!"

"There's…in the toilet…" Yugi frowned before realising what he was trying to say.

"You mean he's been sick?" Marik nodded, looking slightly faint and Yugi shook his head. "Go and tell the teacher we found Ryou and he's been sick, I'll see if he's ok."

"Doesn't the…bother you?" He asked in surprise, indicating with his hand so he wouldn't have to mention the dreaded word, essential if he wanted to keep the contents of his stomach inside where they belonged.

"Look, I lived in hospital for nearly a year, I've seen my fair share of vomit in that time." Yugi said and he pushed Marik out of the way, grabbing the Rod at the same time. "Now go!"

Marik nodded his head before rushing out of the toilet, obviously pleased to be away from them. Yugi rolled his eyes before turning back to Ryou, who hadn't said anything so far. In fact, he had remained totally still, curled up on the floor. He kneeled down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Ryou, are you ok?" He looked up at him, eyes wide and was that fear Yugi could see? Why would he be afraid?

"Yeah, I just feel light headed." He mumbled, rubbing his hands with his face. Just then, the teacher entered the restroom and saw them both sitting on the floor.

"Hey Ryou, will you be ok?" He said, as he looked down at them. He didn't reply, merely continuing to hold his face in his hands. "Yugi?"

"Yeah, he's just been sick. He said he felt a bit light headed but apart from that he'll be fine." The teacher sighed with relief.

"Well when he's ok to stand up, take him outside for some fresh air ok? And don't make him eat anything for the moment, his stomach's probably still feeling unsettled." Yugi nodded his head and the teacher left, shouting at the people who were still inside.

"Do you want to go outside?" Yugi said quietly to Ryou after a moment and he nodded his head, standing up shakily. Yugi quickly flushed the toilet to prevent some poor unfortunate soul from finding it later on when it had had a chance to increase in its aroma before leading the way out.

They walked slowly to some benches near the fields where they were playing football and Yugi smiled, seeing a small blue thing charging around the field, trying to trip everyone up. That'd be Marik then. A few moments later, the whistle went and the teacher walked over to the person, probably to patiently explain that the aim of the game /_wasn't_/ to cause as many injuries as possible. He looked over at Ryou and noticed that he looked worried again and sitting down on the bench, he turned to him.

"What's wrong Ryou?" He looked up in surprise, trying to act puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"You weren't really ill were you? You were trying to get out of P.E. so you made yourself sick." Yugi said randomly, trying to see if he'd get a reaction out of Ryou. And he did.

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were. I saw the look on your face when I mentioned it this morning, you looked panicked. Why?" Ryou didn't say anything and Yugi smiled gently at him. "Don't worry, I won't tell the teacher if you don't want me to."

"He knows anyway." Ryou whispered. "I have a-" He stopped, blushing furiously.

"You have something wrong with you? That means it'll be on your file." Yugi said thoughtfully and Ryou nodded his head in agreement.

"It is. I…I don't want to talk about it." Yugi sighed mentally. Normally he wouldn't have been so pushy about it but whatever was wrong with Ryou was affecting him a lot and making him unhappy. But suddenly he thought of something, someone he had met while he was in hospital…

"Ryou, what did you have for breakfast?"

"Nothing." He said quietly, almost…hesitantly?

"What about at break?" Ryou didn't say anything, merely staring at the ground. "Did you eat any chocolate?" He nodded his head. "Anything else?" Another nod. "Crisps? Sandwiches? Biscuits?" He stopped, hearing a sob and saw that Ryou was crying. "Hey, don't cry. It's ok."

"No it's not, it's not ok." Ryou closed his eyes. "It's so embarrassing, boys aren't supposed to get it."

"I knew a boy who had bulimia-" He looked up in surprise, how could Yugi know? Most boys had never even heard of it. "When I was up at the hospital. But he got better…"

"That's the point! I was supposed to be over it, I hadn't done it for three months. They all thought I was ok…" They remained silent as Ryou's sobs gradually subsided until he turned to Yugi. "Do you know why I've only just started coming to school?"

"Well someone told us you've been stuck in England."

"Hmm, good lie I suppose. I haven't been to school because I threatened that I would start making myself sick again if we moved here. I didn't want to move, I was happy in England…" He explained.

"But you're here now."

"Only because my dad practically carried me onto the plane. It was quite funny really, they had to sedate me and keep me away from the other passengers in case I got aggravated." He smiled sadly as he said this, showing how desperate he was to try and change how bad things were. Yugi was suddenly reminded of Marik, and realised that he had said Shadi was aggravated too. Apparently, according to Odion, because of the Millennium Ring. And he and Marik had sensed something too and when they had looked, they found Ryou. Could he...?

"Ryou…do you have a Millennium Item?" Yugi asked cautiously, hoping that he was right. He didn't want to raise suspicions.

"You have two, although one of them doesn't belong to you." Ryou replied, not really answering the question. "Puzzle and Rod?" He thought for a moment. "And the Rod isn't yours, it's Marik's…" He put his hand to his chest and revealed his Item.

"The Ring…that's how you sensed the other Items!"

"Yes. Unfortunately I can't control it, it just points them out straight away." He laughed, tucking it back under his shirt. "But why do you have the Rod?"

"Bit complicated really. But basically, Shadi's a bit aggravated because of you, which got Odion, his body guard aggravated, which got Marik, his brother aggravated. So he asked me to look after it." Yugi explained and Ryou nodded his head in understanding.

"I think I got that." He stopped, hearing the whistle go and they noticed that everybody was heading towards the changing rooms.

"Let's go." Yugi said cheerfully, standing up and Ryou did the same but didn't look at him.

"Thanks for talking to me Yugi but I should go now."

"Why? It's lunchtime now."

"I just…I don't want to be in your way." He mumbled before walking away.

"But you wouldn't be! Ryou!" Yugi shouted but he ignored him, continuing towards the front of the school, head bent and hands in his pockets.

Yugi sighed and headed back into the P.E. changing rooms where he found Tristan, Joey and Marik getting changed back into their uniforms. Just then the teacher went up to him and asked him how Ryou was. He made up some story about him feeling better before walking up to the others.

"Have fun then?" He asked cheerfully, receiving a frown from Marik.

"No! He stopped the game just so he could tell me the basic rules! My career of not doing football is looking short lived now." He complained. "But I did manage to knock some people over." He added happily.

"Here's the Rod." He said, passing it over quickly. Luckily everyone was too busy putting their shirts on to notice.

"Thanks Yugi."

"Hey, where did Ryou go? I thought he was with you." Joey commented, looking around.

"Nah. He…" Yugi wasn't sure what to say. He got the feeling that he shouldn't tell the others what had happened but he couldn't think of a convincing lie. "We talked for a bit and then he just left."

"Oh."

They found Téa waiting outside for them and they went to their usual spot to have lunch. Joey had finally realised that the perils of buying lunch from school wasn't worth the risks so he was now taking his own, although because he made it himself, it had usually fallen apart by the time he actually had to eat it. Afternoon lessons (maths and English) passed slowly as usual and they went home, wondering if things were always going to be this boring. Marik had finally persuaded his mum that he could walk home on his own when necessary and so he did today as his sister had to stay after school for her art coursework.

As he walked home, Marik wondered about the other Millennium Item he and Yugi had sensed. He didn't recognise it, but the likelihood of it being the Eye was very small. No one knew where the holder of it was; only that nobody would see him during their lifetime, hopefully. Which meant it had to be the Ring. But if it was, who did it belong to? He suspected Ryou but until he actually said he had it, there was no use in speculating. Maybe he would ask him tomorrow. But it did seem suspicious that Shadi had been talking about the Ring at the time that Ryou arrived. And why was he late anyway? Yugi hadn't said anything about where he went to but he knew that he wasn't telling the truth, they had talked about /_something_/. And when he saw Ryou in afternoon lessons, he looked all right then.

Marik stopped his train of thought though when he heard some commotion down an alleyway. As a rule, Marik never got involved in fights; it was just too much hassle having to deal with his mum and Odion afterwards. He had done a lot of fighting back in Egypt, one of the reasons he suspected they had moved to America, but he didn't see the point now. As he walked past, he glanced down it and was surprised when he saw Ryou backed up against a wall, two people inching closer towards him. Thinking of the chance of being able to ask him a few questions, he dropped his bag and walked towards them.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked loudly, hoping to distract them. He did so successfully and was met by two large men who laughed when they saw him.

"We're just beating up Nancy here. Why, what are you doing?" One of them retorted.

"I'm here to stop you." Marik said dangerously, fingering the Rod in his pocket. He didn't want to have to use it but he was prepared to in the name of self-defence.

"And who do you think you are?"

"My name is Marik Ishtar." Instantly they backed away a few steps, although they continued to glare at him.

"So you must be the brother of the famous Odion Ishtar… You may have won this time but we'll get Nancy here when you /_or_/ your Rod can't protect him."

They ran down the alleyway while Marik stared after them, an ominous feeling growing inside him. How did they know he had the Rod? And how did they know Odion? Although Odion didn't keep his name a secret or anything, he kept himself mainly to himself, not allowing many people to know much about him. And why were they after Ryou? Was it just because he looked a little…soft? Thinking of him, he saw that Ryou was now staring at him with a mixture of fear and gratitude. Marik picked his bag up before turning back to Ryou.

"You ok?"

"I…I think so. Thank you for…" He stumbled, glowing red.

"Don't worry about it. But can I ask you a question? Do you have the Ring? And what are you doing down here?"

"That's two questions." Ryou said, laughing weakly but he shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, I have the Ring and you have the Rod and Yugi has the Puzzle. And I'm down here because I'm walking home."

"You live round here then? Maybe we could walk home together?" Marik suggested and nodding his head, Ryou continued down the alleyway. "So where do you live then?"

"North Street."

"That's where I live too! What number?"

"Five."

"Oh, I live at number two hundred and forty nine." Marik ran to catch up with him and they started to walk back in silence. "So what did those guys want with you?"

"Nothing, I don't think. They probably just thought that it'd be a laugh, because I look like a girl." Marik tried to look surprised when he heard this, although he suspected that this was the reason all along. "Don't worry, everywhere I've gone, people have wondered what I am. 'Is it a boy or a girl, or maybe even both?' most of them probably think."

"Well I always thought you were a boy because you were wearing the blue uniform." Marik said to make him feel better.

"But what if girls and boys wore the same uniform? What would you have thought then?" Ryou asked and Marik opened his mouth to answer but then stopped, and closed it again. "Exactly. It wasn't much of a problem back in England but here it is…"

"Maybe you just need to get your hair cut a bit…"

"Maybe. I might just also have to dye it, get a tan, change my voice, put some weight on, get some muscle…" He added, almost bitterly and he clenched his fists. "I'll only be accepted if I change everything about me and that just isn't possible."

"Don't let it get you down. As long as there are people who accept you, it doesn't matter if everyone else doesn't. I mean, look at me. Most people think I'm that weird foreigner who talks funny with their strange clothes and customs." Marik said and Ryou smiled, trying not to laugh. "And look at Yugi, he has strange hair, pale skin, squeaky voice, skinny body with no muscle at all… And he's short too, which just tops it all off." Marik paused for a moment. "Well, probably not 'top', seeing as he can't see the top of much…"

"Marik, that's horrible!" Ryou exclaimed, causing Marik to laugh.

"Well he is! But that's the point, we're all freaks really when you think about it. As long as you have friends, you don't have to worry."

"But…" Ryou said sadly, Marik knew what he was trying to say.

"Look, I'm a friend, Yugi's a friend, we all want to be your friend! What do you think I've been trying to tell you? Don't be down, we'll be here for you." Marik said and Ryou grinned.

"Marik…I…"

"Don't get all emotional on me, it's nothing major! Look, here's your house." They stopped in front of number five. "I'll come pick you up tomorrow at about quarter to eight and we'll walk to school together. You'll have to walk with my sister but she's usually with her friend and is slower than me anyway. What do you say?"

"Yeah, that'd be…cool." Ryou said slowly, not wanting to sound too eager. Marik smiled, seeming to be all knowing before turning to continue down the road. "See you tomorrow Marik!"

"Yeah, see ya!"

* * *

A bit of an abrupt ending but I decided to split this part further because it was still ridiculously long. But I'll put a little reminder in the next chapter about what happened in this one in case you forget. Well, let's see if there are any notes for today... 

1. Because I'm not American, I'm not sure how the administrative part of the schools work or the exact subjects either. So I made up the most sensible thing and tried to use some of the right words.

2. Yeah, the history lesson scene was very long but it was just to highlight that Marik is a bit insecure about himself. Not sure if that came out though.

3. I understand perfectly how Joey feels, I hate maths too! Although I must have been all right at it because my friend always copied my homework... But if one thing's worse than the cosine rule though, it's circle theorem. Don't even get me started on that.

4. I wasn't being mean about Ryou on purpose, just reflecting on the fact that me and Luff wondered if he was a girl or boy when we first saw him. I mean, the fact that all of the guys are drawn with ridiculously thin waists doesn't help. And the accent...oh, that made us completely hysterical! I don't know anyone who talks like that, least of all any guys! It's just a little bit OTT.

Well, that's all for now and I hope to hear from you all with any sort of comments, as it'll cheer me up a lot!

S. Chensu xxx.


	3. The Illusion is Cracked

Another chapter for you all but as usual, I haven't got any reviews at all! So, no one to reply to.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and for this part only, "The Logical Song" by Supertramp. The original, not that shitty version by Scooter.

**Warning**: This is yaoi, as usual, although there isn't any in this chapter. Instead we've got the introduction of Malik and Bakura (who definitely deserve all the warnings you can get) and there's a very bad word in here, which I won't say because it's nasty. This is not my personal opinion, it's one of the main themes of the story so please don't flame me about it.

**Note**: Hmm, I can't think of anything. Except for there will be people who will be OOC from now onwards. Oh yeah, a reminder that there are no ancient spirits, this is an AU.

"Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs while /_blah_/ is emphasis. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

Yet again, there are more introductions (far too many to count) as now all the 'lights' are in here, it's time for the arrival of the 'darks'! Heh, let's get on with it...

* * *

**At the end of the last chapter:**

"_Don't get all emotional on me, it's nothing major! Look, here's your house." They stopped in front of number five. "I'll come pick you up tomorrow at about quarter to eight and we'll walk to school together. You'll have to walk with my sister but she's usually with her friend and is slower than me anyway. What do you say?" _

"_Yeah, that'd be…cool." Ryou said slowly, not wanting to sound too eager. Marik smiled, seeming to be all knowing before turning to continue down the road. "See you tomorrow Marik!"_

"_Yeah, see ya!"_

* * *

**Chapter two: The Illusion is Cracked**

"So then what does he do? He only goes and makes the teacher have a nervous breakdown by asking him to explain it again after spending a whole lesson trying to do just that!" Tristan said as the group sat together at lunch.

Several weeks had passed since Ryou joined and school was going ok, if slowly for the group of six. Ryou had started doing P.E. occasionally but he never did football along with Yugi while Marik had turned out to be rather good at throwing the ball, even if he did end up hitting the other players a lot of the time. Meanwhile, maths had not improved for Joey as Tristan had just explained.

"But I don't understand it when he tries and explains it to me! It's just a pile of mumbo jumbo!" Joey exclaimed, trying to get the others to back him up.

"I think it's time for you to invest in extra help." Téa commented grimly and the others nodded in agreement, equalling Téa's face.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." As he said this, the group noticed someone walking past them who looked remarkably like Yugi only he was a lot taller and had crimson eyes that were smaller and darker. He looked over at them and smiled when he saw Yugi.

"Hey Yugi!" He walked over to where they were, causing Marik to frown and look away. "We haven't spoken in ages!"

"Yami, why don't you come and sit down with us?" Yugi suggested and he turned to the others while Yami did as he said, "Guys, this is Yami Atemu and he lives down the road from me. We used to play together when we were little." Yugi explained to them. "Yami, these are my friends Ryou, Tristan, Téa, Joey and Marik."

"I know Marik, we went to junior high together and you must be the famous Joey Wheeler who's just made their maths teacher have a breakdown." Yami said, causing the former to sniff while the other blushed in embarrassment.

"Hey, what set are you in for maths?" Yugi asked.

"Set one."

"Maybe /_you_/ could give Joey extra help!" Téa suggested.

"Extra help?"

"Yeah, I had it back in junior high but I don't think Téa wants to do it for another four years." Joey said while Téa nodded in agreement.

"I suppose I could help…" Yami said slowly.

"Yay, no more moaning from Joey!" Tristan said, doing a little dance of celebration.

"What do you mean? We've got physics and C.R.E. this afternoon! If that isn't a time to moan then I don't know what is!" Joey ranted, his arms flaying about in the air. "Physics is bad enough as it is but put together with C.R.E. is absolute-"

"All right Joey, we get the point! Now just shut up already!" Marik suddenly snapped and Joey was so shocked by what he had just said that he /_did_/ shut up.

"Sorry man, didn't mean to annoy you." Joey said quietly. There was an uncomfortable silence until Yami stood up.

"Anyway, I'd better get going now. See you guys sometime."

"Hey, why don't you come to the park with us after school Yami?" Yugi said.

"You go to the park?" He asked, curious.

"Yeah, on Fridays because most of us are busy at the weekend so we don't see each other. My grandpa picks up our bags and we stay at the park until half five when he comes pick us four up to take us home while Marik and Ryou walk as they live just down the road from there." He explained. "So what do you say?"

"Sounds cool, I'll meet you by the gates then." Yami left the group, Marik muttering curses under his breath at him. Once he was gone, Téa turned on Marik.

"There was no need to be nasty Marik!"

"I'm sorry but unless Joey /_wants_/ extra C.R.E., he'd be well advised to be careful around Atemu."

"Why?"

"Because in junior high, he gained a reputation of being a snitch and you know how important C.R.E. is to the council. They would have /_made_/ you like it." Marik said to Joey.

"What did he do to you then?" Ryou asked, the first thing he had said this lunchtime.

"Not him in particular, but snitches in general. They're the reason I was forced to have therapy for a whole year." He blurted out, his eyes clouding in anger.

"Therapy for what?" Suddenly the anger was gone and Marik shook his head, realising what he had just said.

"Nothing important."

The afternoon lessons passed slowly, but then it was physics and C.R.E. so that was understandable. For an explanation of C.R.E. (the terrible thing) it's basically Citizenship with R.E. Mostly it's like a watered down version of politics and everybody hates it. They spent most of their time copying out of the textbook and even Yugi, the calm and neutral one, detested it. So they spent their time amusing themselves by doing a countdown on a piece of paper and passing it around, each person crossing off a minute.

They left the lesson as soon as the bell rang and walked out of the gate, meeting Yami at the front. Marik frowned moodily, trailing behind the others as they chatted happily to him once they had dropped their bags off with Yugi's Grandpa. They entered the park and still feeling alone, Marik considered going home until Yugi turned around and noticing his sad look, stopped walking with others and waited for him.

"Hey Marik, are you all right?" He asked, smiling gently but suddenly his eyes widened in fear and he pointed over Marik's shoulder. "Err Marik…" Seeing the look on his face, he turned around, only to be met with a pair of pale blue eyes and a large amount of light grey hair.

"Marik Ishtar." They spat, looking down at him. He felt anger flowing through his body as he glared.

"Malik Wood." He glanced up and down, noticing the uniform for the first time. "I thought you were expelled from school." He commented haughtily, crossing his arms.

"And /_I_/ thought you were still in therapy but that's not the point." He replied, smirking as he peered over Marik's shoulder. "And who's your /_little_/ friend?"

"He has got nothing to do with this so keep him out of it." Marik growled.

"Looks a lot like Yami, which reminds me, did you find out who it was that landed you in therapy for a year?" Malik said tauntingly. Yugi saw Marik clench his fists in anger and not wanting him to get into trouble, he stepped forward so he was standing next to Marik.

"Come on Marik. He's not worth the effort."

"Did Marik ever tell you why he was in therapy?" Malik suddenly asked Yugi.

"No he didn't but he doesn't have to if he feels uncomfortable about it." He replied bravely, grabbing Marik's arm to try and drag him away.

"What, even if it was corrective therapy, type F?"

"You fucking bastard!" Marik yelled, lunging forward and knocking Malik over while Yugi reeled from the shock of what Malik had just said. F-therapy was really bad, the people remained outcasts for the rest of their lives. Marik was probably only still around because he held a Millennium Item and so it was important for him to get rehabilitated.

Yugi felt something knock into him and realising it was Marik's bag, he backed away to avoid the two boys who were currently rolling around on the floor, kicking and punching when possible. He heard footsteps thundering getting near and saw the others running towards him as well as several people wandering over to see what was going on. By now Malik had Marik pinned down and had his knee pressed into his stomach while squeezing his wrists hard.

"Typical." One boy tutted, also wearing blue uniform. He had a red and black diamond checked bandana holding back most of his black hair while the rest was tied together. He rolled his piercing green eyes at the two on the floor.

"You know him?" Téa asked quickly, staring at the boy.

"Well yeah, I suppose so…"

"Then get him off!" She demanded, pointing to Marik and Malik.

"Sorry, no can do. This feud goes back a long way, I'd be signing my own death sentence if I got involved." Suddenly Malik was thrown off Marik and he stood up quickly, facing Marik as he hissed in annoyance.

"Now that was just low…"

"Well that's alright then, seeing as you're the scum of the earth." Marik retorted as they began to circle each other.

xxxxxx

"Hello Ryou." Someone whispered and Ryou looked around, surprised when he saw similar coloured hair and steely grey eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked, taking a step backwards. He felt nervous being this close to him, he seemed to represent trouble and he felt like something bad was going to happen.

"My name is Bakura." He noticed the look of shock on Ryou's face and smiled. "Yes, the same name as your surname."

"What do you want with me?"

"Don't look so worried, I just wanted to see if you're okay." He turned to face him. "After all, you must feel awful having bulimia."

"How do you know that?" Ryou squeaked, upset that someone knew about it and they looked like they would tell any number of people just for fun.

"I know everybody's secrets." He looked around the group. "For instance, I know Yugi spent a year in hospital with a life threatening disease and /_he_/ has the Millennium Puzzle. Marik has the Rod and ended up in therapy because one of his friends was a faggot. Malik's jealous of him because he has friends and family who care about him while Duke," He nodded to the boy with black hair. "Is possibly the only person who likes Malik and holds a lot of contraband, some of it belonging to Marik."

"How do you know all this?" Ryou demanded as Bakura shook his head.

"See how we're all connected? Joey's got dyscalculia (**1**) while the only reason Tristan acts like a dumbass is because he doesn't want to leave Joey on his own. And Téa's now got a crush on Yami and he's the only person who isn't a member of the council who knows where the Millennium Eye is /_and_/ who has it." He paused and looked into the distance. "And although Kaiba's trying to look casual, he actually has a lot on his mind as someone's hacking onto his computers, making his security technology…well, not very secure." Ryou saw a figure under a tree not very far away from where they were and assumed it was 'Kaiba'. But he couldn't believe half the things he had been told, how could one person know so much? In his heart though, Ryou knew it was true.

"Then what is /_your_/ secret?" He said sarcastically.

"Now why would I tell you that?" Bakura replied, turning back to Ryou. "So then, how does it feel to be a Nancy with a illness to go with it? That you're a freak and you're all alone in a world that doesn't accept you. Everywhere you go, people wonder what you are and how you can live the way you do. I bet the others are only friends with you because they feel pity for you and how useless you are…" He continued to whisper, his smile increasing as Ryou looked more and more upset. "Why do you continue living, there's no point."

"You'll regret saying that you fool…" Suddenly Ryou's eyes started to glow blue and the Ring appeared, glowing too as a blast of energy issued from it, hitting Bakura directly in the chest and knocking him over.

The others looked over when they heard the blast and they backed away in shock as his eyes continued to glow. Even Marik and Malik stopped fighting and Malik frowned when he saw Bakura on the ground.

"What the fuck did you do?" He snarled and Ryou's head snapped in his direction.

"Nothing you don't deserve too." The darkness seemed to increase in his voice as Malik fell to the ground, eyes closed.

"Ryou, what are you doing?" Téa yelled, covering her face to stop herself from crying at what had just happened. The glow disappeared and he stumbled backwards a few steps, taking in the looks on their faces and the people lying on the grass.

"What happened?" He backed away, a frightened look on his face. "Oh no, I've done it again." He glanced at the group again before running away towards the gates of the park.

"Hey Ryou, wait!" Marik said, snatching his bag from Yugi before running after him. The others stood in silence, still not quite sure what had happened while the other boy stepped forward and inspected the two bodies on the ground.

"Hmm, interesting. Well that certainly made my day…" He commented, flicking back a stray lock of black hair.

"Why don't you just leave us alone, seeing as you haven't got anything nice to say?" Tristan snapped, stepping forward with his fist in front of him.

"Well it was /_your_/ friend who knocked them out." He retorted, crossing his arms.

"Because of what /_they_/ did! Tristan's right, if you haven't got anything nice to say then don't say anything at all." Yugi added, standing beside Tristan.

"That's a bit of an attitude to have for a ten year old but whatever. It's not like I care…" He said before walking away towards the other side of the park.

"Some people just shouldn't be allowed out…" Téa said distastefully.

"Hey guys, what are we going to do about these two here?" Joey suddenly asked, indicating the two boys on the ground.

"Just leave them, they're not worth bothering about." Yami said, turning away to prove his point.

"But then someone's only worth bothering about if there are suspicions about them in your opinion." Bakura replied, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Where's the little shit head gone?"

"Don't you dare call him that! What gives you the right to say stuff like that about him? He didn't do anything to you!" Téa screeched.

"He had the cheek to-" He paused, one so he could stand up but mostly because he wasn't actually sure what had happened. Then he realised, it was so bloody obvious. "So he's another member of the Millennium Item society…too bad he's completely cracked." He commented, dusting off his trousers.

"Shut up, you don't know anything about what he's been through!" Yugi snapped, enraged that someone could talk so lightly about it.

"I know he's got bulimia and problems with his emotions so they get channelled into the wrong things. Which is bad news, seeing as the holders of the Millennium Items are supposed to be perfect." Bakura stopped and turned to face Yugi. "But then, you aren't exactly perfect yourselves, you and Marik. You, with your disease and stumpiness while Marik's profile could cause a field day with the press if they knew. F-therapy, bouts of extreme violence, arson…the list seems endless." He picked up his bag, flung it onto his shoulder and began to walk away before glancing back and shouting, "Do your friends seem as nice now, Yugi? If you think that's bad, you don't want to know what I know about the rest of you!"

He disappeared into the gathering gloom, leaving behind a group of people who were completely astounded by what they had heard. Who would have guessed that Ryou and Marik had so many problems? And that there was someone who knew stuff about them that nobody else knew? That scared most of them, everybody had secrets they didn't want others to know about…

"We should probably go before the creepy guy wakes up. I don't want to deal with anything else today…" Joey whispered, afraid that he would wake him up.

"Yeah, I'll go and call my Grandpa seeing as the shop's shut now." Yugi said and the group left the scene, Yugi reaching into his pocket for his mobile phone.

The darkness continued to stain the land, mixing the senses up as time poured downwards into the infinity of the bottom bulb and twisted the shapes of everything that could be seen. All that was left was a black-like figure that rose from the ground and looked around, their seemingly glowing eyes piercing the darkness as it crept through. But then it stumbled and swore, very badly.

"Fucking hell, why am I still here in this shit hole?" It questioned. "Oh yeah, because Bakura thought it would be funny to piss Nancy off. And although Nancy doesn't know his secret, I do and one day I'll tell a certain brown-haired boy who'll be very interested in my information." It stopped talking as it walked to the entrance where it was finally lighted in all its glory. Malik looked down the road and grinned. "And one day Marik, you'll realise it was me who made your life absolute hell and there's not a single thing you can do to me to change it." He chuckled to himself as he disappeared once more into the darkness of night…

xxxxxx

It was dinner time at the Muto household but so far, little had been said, Yugi still thinking about what had happened and Solomon concerned by the behaviour of the group when he had come to pick them up. They were usually chatting and laughing but this time they had been silent, much like Yugi was now. He sighed and cleared his throat.

"Yugi, what happened at the park?" He glanced up before looking away.

"Grandpa, how well do you know the Ishtars?" He asked, ignoring his question.

"Well I've been in contact with them since they moved here but it's been irregular because of several things." Grandpa replied.

"Like corrective therapy?" He suggested casually.

"Yes, like that I suppose. That and-" He stopped abruptly and stared at Yugi. "How do you know about that?"

"We were at the park when someone called Malik Wood came along. He saw me and told me, although we knew something had happened as Marik had mentioned it by accident once." Yugi explained and when Solomon heard Malik's name, he became deeply concerned.

"Is he still around? Yugi, I want you to avoid that boy. He's caused enough problems for Marik and I don't want the same thing to happen to you." He paused, looking thoughtful. "Those two have always been at each other's throats ever since they first met at junior high. It was him who told the authorities about Lee and put Marik into therapy."

"Who's Lee?"

"He was a friend of Ishizu's but became quite close to Marik too. He probably saw Lee as someone who could fill Odion's shoes as he was around a lot. Well it turned out that he was a…well, you know and he was taken away. But then concerns rose about Marik's mentality so they put him into therapy to make sure." Solomon sighed and shook his head. "Poor old thing, he was only twelve. No one his age should have to go through something like that."

"Was it really bad then?"

"Well Marik refused to talk at first when he went back home and then the council confiscated a lot of his stuff. Music was one of his great loves and most of it got taken away. It's made him really jumpy about making any friends in case it happens again." Yugi sat there, stunned by what he had just heard, no wonder Marik had been angry when Malik told him, it brought back so many painful memories.

"Was there anything to do with arson and violence?" He said, suddenly remembering the person who had talked to them afterwards.

"During the therapy, Marik became extremely violent and little things used to set him off. Three people ended up in hospital because of him although they did survive. As for the 'arson'…it wasn't really arson, he just used to have a fascination with fire. He did set a couple of things off but they soon realised and wouldn't let him near anything flammable again. They tried to take away the matches but gave up, he was just too aggressive."

"And nobody tried to make sure he was all right?" Yugi exclaimed.

"Well that wasn't their concern…" Grandpa argued. "So is that what happened at the park then? Malik told everyone about Marik's secret?"

"That was only one thing that happened… This person came along and he must have said some stuff to Ryou because he got really mad and…the Ring started glowing, he completely changed! He knocked the person and Malik unconscious and when he saw what had happened, he said something about it happening again before running off with Marik behind him." Yugi said, his speech becoming disjointed as he tried to remember the events. "When the person woke up, he said loads of stuff about Ryou and Marik before announcing that he knew everybody else's secrets too. He left after that, asking me if my friends seemed nice now."

"This person seems to have an agenda with you and your friends… What did he look like?" Grandpa said, musing over Yugi's words.

"Well he had similar coloured hair to Ryou but his eyes were grey and steely and he was taller too. He seemed so cold hearted… We don't know him though; we've never seen him up until that point. He does go to my school though." Yugi described, wondering if he did have an agenda. If so, what was it?

"Ah yes, Bakura Zork. The one who knows everything about everyone, yet little is known about him. In which case he was probably just showing off to make you afraid. Don't give in to him, he has secrets of his own, which he doesn't want anyone to know about either." Grandpa advised as he put his plate by the sink. "Finished Yugi?" He asked, indicating the plate.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for the dinner grandpa." Yugi said cheerfully as he passed over his plate.

Soon Yugi was eating strawberry flavoured ice cream (his favourite) while grandpa did the washing up in silence. He was soon finished though and he sat back down at the table facing Yugi.

"So what did he say about Ryou?"

"That he has bulimia and he has problems with his emotions." Yugi muttered, remembering how trivial Bakura had made it sound.

"I haven't really had a chance to talk to Ryou's dad properly but we have met. I assume you know about the whole moving thing?"

"Yes, Ryou told me when he skived off of P.E. He told me everything about his bulimia, well he told me a lot anyway." Yugi explained.

"His father talked about his bulimia but said he hadn't made himself ill for several months until he found out he was moving."

"So what about his emotion problems?"

"Well his bulimia was mainly caused by a power cut in his house when he was about ten. At that point, he had a fear of the dark and he was so nervous and panicky that he threw up. From then onwards, he used to do it to make himself feel better whenever he was in a strange situation. As for the thing at the park, he just got really angry. He was always told to keep calm if he ever felt angry but since he got the Millennium Ring he hasn't been able to control it and it ends up being channelled through the Ring instead."

"Isn't there anything me or Marik could do?" Yugi said desperately. "After all, we both have Millennium Items so couldn't we just use our power to stop the blast or deflect it or something?" He suggested.

"Only if you could control Ryou and stop him from turning on you. The power of the Millennium Items can be very volatile so you'd have to make sure you can protect yourself." Grandpa explained. "Luckily I don't think it happens very often so you might be ok."

"Yeah, maybe you're right…" Yugi said hopefully. "But that still leaves me with the problem of what to do on Monday."

"What do you mean?" Solomon said, a puzzled expression on his face.

"I wasn't the only one at the park remember? Nobody knows any of the stuff you've just told me, they only know what Bakura and Malik said. I wouldn't usually think of telling them the truth but they'll be concerned too and if no one says anything, they might make their own assumptions, which could be dangerous. But I don't think they'll talk about it even though they /_deserve_/ to know. What do I do?"

"Wait until Monday and see what they say. Tell them you know the truth and that you'll be there for them if they need it and that everyone else is supporting them too. Maybe they'll tell the others in time but try not to be too demanding, just leave them be if necessary. Don't just casually mention it though, especially to Ryou, as it'll only make him anxious, which you don't really need. As long as you're there for them, it'll be ok." Grandpa said wisely as he took Yugi's bowl and washed it up.

"Grandpa, doesn't any of this bother you? The fact that my friends have had problems in the past?" He couldn't understand, most of society would have labelled them as outcasts yet his grandpa, an important man, had very little opinion on it.

"I know them for who they really are and that in the end, these things can happen to anyone in a similar situation. You have to learn to be open minded…"

"You know, I was called a ten year old and a stump but I don't really care. Isn't that strange?" Yugi suddenly said, laughing.

"It means that you accept whatever people think of you and that Yugi, is one of the most important lessons in life." He patted Yugi on top of his head fondly. "You have much homework this weekend?"

"No, just some questions for maths and a couple of bits of reading so I'll be able to help you in the shop."

"As long as you get your homework done…" He muttered.

"Don't worry, I will." Yugi stood up and walked to the kitchen door. "Goodnight grandpa."

"Goodnight Yugi."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday soon came around (as it always does) and as Joey, Tristan, Téa and Yugi walked to school, they wondered about the events. Well three of them did, Yugi remained silent. They soon realised this though and so tried to raise him from his stupor.

"Hey Yugi, what do you think about it?" Joey suddenly asked and he blinked, wary about what he might say.

"Well…I think that it doesn't matter and that if they want to talk to us about it then we'll listen to them but until then we should leave it." Yugi said.

"What, you mean we should forget about it? Because I don't know Yugi, quite a lot happened." Joey replied.

"No, not forget about it, just not let it ruin everything." He explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well we'll see what happens once we get to school."

They duly arrived at school and after not finding Ryou or Marik, they decided to go to their homeroom and see if they were there instead. They entered the room and found one very depressed looking Marik but no Ryou. He continued to sit there, slouched in his chair, even when they were right in front of him.

"Hey Marik, where's Ryou? Didn't he walk with you to school this morning?" Yugi asked, sitting on his desk which was next to Marik's.

"Dunno, gone somewhere. He said something about the Principal." He replied dully, like he had come down with something.

"The Principal? I wonder what happened…" Joey commented, glancing out of the window towards the Principal's office.

"Yeah, me too…" Marik replied sarcastically.

"Well there's no need to be a bitch about it." Joey snapped, causing Marik to jump up, filled with rage.

"Oh so now I'm a bitch? Why didn't you just say outright you think I'm a freak?" He yelled before grabbing his bag and storming out of the room.

"Marik, wait!" Tristan shouted, running after him. Joey stood there dumbfounded while Téa glared at him.

"Oh well done Joey! You've gone and done it now!" Téa barked, cuffing him around the back of the head.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to say that!" Joey said in exasperation, rubbing his head where Téa had hit him.

"Let's just hope Tristan finds him…" Yugi said quietly, moving so he was sitting on his chair.

Tristan soon came back but they quickly realised he was alone and looked concerned as he finally reached them while others had started to take interest. After all Marik had yelled quite loudly. They looked at him expectantly as he slumped down in his chair.

"He went to the toilets but he won't come out. I tried to tell him that Joey was sorry but he wouldn't listen. I think he was crying." Tristan explained, putting his face in his hands.

"Oh dear, what if he doesn't go to any of his lessons?" Téa suddenly asked, noticing that it was nearly registration.

"We'll just say we haven't seen him this morning." Yugi replied. "Everybody else will keep quiet, they always do in maths anyway."

"I wonder when Ryou's coming back from the Principal… Do you think he's in trouble?"

"He probably just wants to talk about what happened on Friday. If it's on his records then they'll already know about it."

"I've just wondered…what're first lessons?" Joey said.

"I don't think you want to know Joey."

"Yes but I need my books-" He stopped as Tristan kindly passed over his timetable and stared at it for a few moments. "Please tell me that does /_not_/ say what I think it says…"

"If you're hoping that it says double P.E. then you're wrong but it /_does_/ say English and chemistry…" Tristan tried to sound optimistic but failed miserably as Joey's eyes widened in fear.

"No, not E-English and c-c-chemistry…" He stuttered, dropping the planner and backing away from it.

"Oh please, you are so stupid sometimes. Come on, let's go and get your books…" Téa scolded as she dragged Joey out of the room by his arm.

"Hey Yugi, did we have any homework?"

"Only to do that bit of reading for English."

"Oh, I did that so that's ok then."

Just then Téa and Joey came back in, she ranting and raging about something while he looked dazed. They arrived back at their tables and she noticed the puzzled looks on Yugi and Tristan's faces.

"Sorry about that but Mr Wheeler here thought it would be a great idea to knock his head on the locker door in an attempt to knock himself out." Yugi and Tristan started laughing when they heard this while Joey covered his ears.

"Don't do that, it hurts!"

"Well I'm not surprised Joey to be honest." Yugi said, his eyebrow raised. Of course the bell then went, making Joey's head feel even worse.

xxxxxx

"Hi guys!" It was break time and the four of them were sitting outside on a bench when they heard the cheerful voice. They turned around and saw Ryou coming towards them, smiling gently.

"Ryou, you came back!" Joey yelled happily, doing a little jig. "We thought you'd been eaten by the Principal!"

"No, we just talked for a bit. You know, about what happened on Friday." He said, Joey's words causing him to grin. Suddenly Joey stared at him with narrowed eyes, looking closely at him.

"Why are you happy?" He demanded in a mock serious voice.

"Err…shouldn't I be?"

"Well Marik isn't." Joey said, leaning back again and relaxing as Ryou suddenly realised that he wasn't there.

"Hey, where /_is_/ Marik?"

"In the toilets, last time I checked." Tristan replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"He got a bit upset this morning and ran off but he won't leave the toilets." Téa added, giving Joey a significant look.

"You tried talking to him?"

"Yes, with little success apart from a string of swearwords and possibly a broken toilet." Tristan said and his eyes suddenly widened at an idea that had just appeared in his mind. "Hey Ryou, why don't /_you_/ try and talk to him? You two are closer than we are."

"Uh, ok then. I'll try and see what I can do. I assume he's in the main toilets?" Tristan nodded his head and Ryou left the group to find Marik.

"Hey Tristan, did you say a broken toilet?" Téa suddenly asked.

"I don't know if the toilet got broken but when I said that Joey was sorry, he went off the rails completely! He was swearing and there was a huge crash, what it was I don't know, and then he wouldn't say anything else." Tristan said quickly.

"Oh dear, I hope he didn't get too mad…"

Five minutes later of dissecting what had happened, Ryou came back but there was /_still_/ no Marik. He seemed relaxed and happy though so they waited for him to speak with hope.

"I managed to persuade him to come out after telling him that people were suspicious that the person in the toilet had a bad case of diarrhoea, which made him laugh. We talked for a little bit but then Ishizu came along so I left them to talk." He stopped and turned to Téa. "He said he would meet you in the maths room."

"Is he still upset?"

"Yeah, he thinks that none of you like him but I told him that nothing's changed." He looked at them. "Nothing /_has_/ changed, has it? Because they only did it to make sure…"

"Of course nothing has changed! We just want him to know that we'll always be there for him." Yugi said and the others nodded in agreement.

"Well now that that is sorted out, we'd better go to maths." They stood up and left the bench, Joey dragging his feet along so he wouldn't get there too quickly.

xxxxxx

It was maths and Ryou and Yugi were discussing the situation with Marik while doing some questions from the textbook. Well, attempting to do them anyway.

"I just wish we could do something to cheer him up…" Yugi said sadly as he finished a sum off.

"Well I had an idea but it's a bit silly really." Ryou said shyly. Yugi looked expectantly at him and he sighed. "Bakura told me on Friday that a lot of Marik's stuff was confiscated and guess who ended up with it?"

"Who?" Ryou pointed slightly behind him and Yugi followed it, only to lock eyes with the black haired boy from Friday. He turned around again, surprised at seeing him. "I didn't know he was in our set."

"His name is Duke and I thought we could see him at lunchtime to find out if we could get some of his stuff back." Yugi thought about it for a moment before smiling excitedly.

"That's a great idea! But what do you think we have to do?"

"I don't know, that's why I wanted to talk to him." He paused, suddenly looking embarrassed. "But I don't want to go on my own…"

"Of course you're not! I'll come with you and the others can keep Yami busy so he won't find out." Yugi smiled mischievously.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about Yami…" He thought for a moment. "Do you think he knows about the Millennium Ring?"

"He didn't say anything about it. Why?"

"Because Bakura told me on Friday that Yami is the only person who knows where the Eye is who isn't a member of the council."

"Really? Maybe that means he's /_definitely_/ a snitch then."

"Yugi Muto and Ryou Bakura, do you want to do extra maths this lunchtime?" They jumped when they heard the voice and looked up guiltily at the teacher.

"No sir." Yugi said nervously, hoping he hadn't heard what they were talking about.

"Then would you please get on with your work?" He said in exasperation before turning back to help another student.

Once the lesson ended, they packed away quickly so they could corner Duke and they found him closing his bag before hooking it onto his shoulder. He looked up, seeing them, frowning for a moment as he tried to remember where he had seen them before. Then it clicked.

"The ten year old and Nancy… What do you want?"

"We wanted to know if we could talk to you at lunchtime." Yugi requested, feeling Ryou stiffen at his side at being called 'Nancy'.

"Whatever for?"

"Because we know your secret about Marik." Ryou said quietly, giving him a significant look.

"Dear old Bakura, can't keep his mouth shut…" Duke sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Fine then, you know. What about it specifically?"

"We want to get some of Marik's stuff off of you, you shouldn't have it anyway." Yugi said haughtily.

"What could you do that I want? And anyway, it's not available." He replied, crossing his arms.

"Any why not? It's not yours for a start off and if it weren't for your little friend, you wouldn't have it anyway. You have no right to that stuff, he does. And I'm sure there must be something you want…" Ryou said, causing Duke to stare at him. Was he saying that…? If he was, it wasn't worth risking a refusal.

"Fine then. Meet me around the back of the C block at lunch. Just you two, no one else. And no followers either…" He threatened, before walking away from them and out of the room.

"Well that went all right I suppose. Now we just need to get the others to keep Marik and Yami busy."

xxxxxx

Ryou and Yugi set off at lunchtime around the back of the block and they found Duke leaning against the wall with…a cigarette in his hand? They stared at him as he put it to his mouth and then blew the smoke out. Wasn't he the same age as them? And if so, then how did he get any? Was this part of the contraband? They continued to gaze at him in silence and he looked up, smiling when he saw their slightly gawping faces.

"What, you've never seen a cigarette before?"

"No, it's just that… How old are you?" Yugi asked, causing Duke to roll his eyes and sigh.

"Not another lecture… I'm fourteen and please don't go on about legalities because I really don't care."

"Yeah, we noticed… Can you at least put it out for now please?"

"Whatever." He shrugged his shoulders before stubbing it against the wall. "Now then, what can I do you for?"

"We want one of Marik's CDs." Yugi demanded, looking seriously at him.

"A CD eh?" He thought for a moment before opening his bag. "Can any of you draw?"

"Yeah, Ryou's really good at art." Yugi said, causing Ryou to blush and mutter incoherently. "And there's no point in being modest Ryou because you know it's true."

"If I give you this, can you draw it?" Duke held a piece of paper in his hand and Ryou frowned at it. "It's got some instructions on it."

"I don't know, what is it? Can I see the paper first?" He asked hesitantly.

"No. You either accept it and do it or you get no CD." Duke said and nodding his head slightly, Ryou took the piece of paper and looked at it for a moment, scanning over the words.

"How realistic do you want this to be?"

"No cartoons, so pretty realistic."

"Then could you do me a favour? Could you pose for me?" He saw Duke's face and sighed. "I won't be able to get the proportions right if you don't."

"Why can't Yugi do it?" Duke asked, indignant that he had to model like a girl.

"Because…" He looked at Yugi, not wanting to say why in front of him but he got the drift.

"I'm too short Duke so just get on with it ok?" He said, not angrily but business like.

"Fine then, whatever. What do you want me to do?"

"Could you turn around, with your back facing me but looking over your shoulder to the side? Looking to the…left." Duke did as he said, crossing his arms and pouting slightly. "Uncross your arms and don't frown please." He said sharply as he got his sketchpad and pencils out before opening it and looking at the piece of paper again. "Now keep still, I'll try to be as quick as I can…"

"You're so generous…" Duke muttered as he shifted slightly in his place.

"So then Duke, what is it that Ryou's drawing?" Yugi asked, hoping to stop Duke from getting bored so he wouldn't fidget.

"Just an idea I had for something…" He said vaguely, not really wanting to talk about it. Just then, he saw Bakura out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, Bakura!"

"Duke, what the hell are you doing?" Bakura asked, frowning at first him before noticing Yugi staring at him while Ryou was glancing up at Duke every few seconds. "And what are those two doing here?"

"They're doing something for me in return for me giving them a little present…" Duke said.

"But that doesn't explain what you're doing…"

"This is the catch. I have to stand here like an idiot." Duke said and by now Ryou had stopped what he was doing and flicking back to another page in his book. "Hey you, don't take a break now! This is boring you know."

"Hey Bakura?" Ryou said nervously, ignoring Duke's rant. "I wanted to say sorry for what happened on Friday and to give you this." He ripped a page out of his book and passed it over to him.

"What's this?"

"When I got home I drew it and it helped me calm down a lot. But the problem is, if my dad found it, he'd probably give it to my…doctor, who would have a field day trying to analyse it so there's no point in me keeping it. Hence I'm giving it to you." He explained and Bakura looked at, frowning at what he saw.

"Why did you…?"

"Because it was the first thing that came to my head. You don't have to keep it if you don't want to but I can't risk having it for any longer." He smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "It's not that great really, that's the problem with ink."

"Did you create it yourself?"

"No, I got it from a painting by Dalí called 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus'. He's one of my favourite artists." He smiled gently before turning back to Duke, who was starting to fume. "All right Duke, no need to blow a fuse." He tisked as he picked up his sketchbook again.

Bakura stared at the sketch in front of him. It was drawn in red ink and despite Ryou's insistence, it was actually quite good. Well he thought it was, although he had never seen the real thing. He had never even /_heard_/ of Dalí. It showed an egg, cracks travelling, splitting down the sides, the red ink making it look like blood while a simple daisy grew out of the top of it, alone against the stark background. It was so haunting; he had never seen any drawing like this before. What was the style? And most importantly, why had Ryou given it to him? What was he trying to tell him? That he felt like the egg, cracked and defeated? Or was he the daisy, triumphing over everything that came in his way, even if it wasn't physically possible? Maybe he was looking into it too deeply but… The title didn't seem right though, or at least he didn't understand it. Maybe he should ask about it at some point…

"Hey Bakura, is it any good?" Duke suddenly called out and he looked up at him.

"It's…" He didn't know what to say, he could either tell the truth or he could act sensibly. "It's all right…" He said casually, folding it up and placing it in the inside pocket of his blazer. "So then Duke, what are you giving them?"

"It depends on whether the picture looks all right…" He gave Ryou a meaningful glare and he looked up, seeming to sense it.

"So no pressure…" He muttered, rubbing out a line before redrawing it. "It won't look that great because it's got no colour but you'll have a basic idea." He ripped the page out and Duke sighed in relief, stretching his arms. "Here." He passed the piece of paper over and he looked at it closely.

"Is that Bakura's hair?" Duke suddenly asked, causing Ryou to blush.

"Not specifically, it's just a similar length…" Ryou replied, packing his stuff away. "I hope it's 'all right' enough for you."

"Here, take this." Duke suddenly said, reaching into his bag and taking out a square case. One that looked like it could contain a CD.

"You had one on you?" Yugi asked in amazement, taking it from him.

"I had the feeling that you might do something foolish like this so I brought it in." He replied, shrugging his shoulders and taking out his cigarette and lighter. "Now I can finally finish this off."

"Lend me your lighter Duke please." Bakura said, holding his hand out.

"You still haven't got another one?" Duke said, throwing it in his direction.

"My mum's been watching me like a hawk since she found my last one. I haven't had a smoke since yesterday afternoon."

"Aw, poor old you." Yugi said sarcastically. He hated smoking because it got right into his lungs and made him feel really horrible. Not only that but it was just disgusting in general.

"You keep your mouth shut dwarf, unless you want me to shove this down your throat!" Bakura snapped, pointing the cigarette in his direction.

"Just try it!"

"Come on Yugi, we got what we wanted so let's just go." Ryou said, grabbing his arm in an attempt to drag him away.

"Yeah, you're right." He relaxed and they turned around, starting to walk away. Until they noticed a figure standing nearby under a tree, watching them intently. "Err…"

"What?" Duke looked in their direction and grinned, seeing the person. "Oh, don't worry about him, it's just Kaiba."

"Kaiba /_Seto_/ Kaiba?" Yugi asked in amazement. "I didn't realise he went to school…"

"Yes, it's rather embarrassing really. They won't let him take over the company until he's got some qualifications so he's now going to school. Sucker." Bakura spat, looking at him with hate.

"Will he say anything about…this?"

"No, I don't think so. He will stare at anyone within a hundred metres of him, it's perfectly normal. We've never got into trouble at any rate." Duke said, waving in his direction. "Hey Kaiba, say hello!" He yelled, getting a finger in response from him. "Now that isn't very nice now, is it?" He said in shocked tones, giving him the finger too. "I hate that bastard, he's always so smug…"

"Who's so smug?" Yugi and Ryou instantly recognised the voice and backed away slightly, seeing the wild, light grey hair. Malik Wood.

"Kaiba." Duke growled, indicating with his head.

"Oh, him." He said indifferently. "And what are /_they_/ doing here?" He pointed in Yugi and Ryou's direction, sniffing loudly.

"Nothing, we were just going." Yugi said quickly as they continued to edge away.

"They just helped me with something, don't be nasty to them." Duke said, frowning at Malik to show he was serious. "You may make Marik's life miserable but that doesn't give you the right to make their lives hell too."

"Watch it Devlin!" Malik snarled, stepping forward, crouched slightly.

"Oh please Malik, that act's so boring now." Duke said lazily before turning to Ryou and Yugi. "Hey guys, let's go and find Marik. I want to see how he reacts." He smiled at them and they returned it, knowing he was trying to help them.

"Hey Ryou, before you go, what's the name of your picture?" Bakura asked.

"Didn't I tell you? It's called 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus'."

"No, not that name, the one /_you_/ want to call it." Ryou thought for a moment before looking at the CD that was in Yugi's hands.

"Any time you like." He said, shrugging his shoulders before leaving with Duke and Yugi.

"Any time you like…?" Bakura murmured, thinking back to the picture. Did he say that for a reason? Or was it just because it was the title of the album?

xxxxxx

"Hey Duke, thanks for getting us out of there." Yugi said quietly as they made their way back to the others.

"No problem, Malik was being a jerk. He always is to those younger than him. He's redoing his first year though; apparently he completely failed his exams. So maybe he's just bitter about all the first years." Duke explained.

"Really? I didn't know that."

"It's true, the same thing goes for Bakura. While Kaiba is in the year above…or two I think." He added.

"And what about you? Are you redoing this year?"

"No, I am /_actually_/ in the first year."

"Oh, sorry." Ryou mumbled, but Duke merely grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's ok. Where are your friends?"

"Over there." Yugi pointed at a group sitting under a tree, noticing, to his relief that Yami wasn't with them. "Hey, Yami's not with them! That means we can give Marik his CD now!"

They reached the group and noticed straight away that Marik was sitting slightly apart from the others, looking down at the grass. The others saw Yugi and Ryou with Duke standing beside them, looking nervous.

"Hey guys, sorry we took so long." Yugi said calmly as he sat down with them.

"Yeah, what did you do, go on holiday on the way or something?" Joey said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. The three of them had been told what Yugi and Ryou were doing, although they didn't mention where they were going to get it from.

"Yeah, you could say that." Yugi replied. "Anyway guys, this is Duke and he helped us."

"Aren't you the one from Friday?" Tristan looked suspiciously at him.

"Err…yeah that was me." He said, laughing nervously as he wondered whether this was a good idea or not. At least Yugi hadn't told them the truth.

"Hey Marik, are you ok?" Ryou asked quietly, sitting beside him.

"No." He said miserably, refusing to look at him.

"Well we wanted you to know that nothing's changed. You're still our friend and we hope that we're still yours. You've been through some bad stuff in the past but don't clam up please. Just be happy, ok?" He took the CD from Yugi and held it out to Marik. "Here, we found this for you." He looked up and stared blearily at the CD, reading what it said on the front. Then it registered with his brain.

"Where…where did you get this from?" He asked, taking it slowly and looking at it. "My friend made this for me back in Egypt just before I left. It's got all my favourite songs on it…" He murmured, opening the case and peering at the actual CD. "How, why?"

"Duke helped us get it and we got it because we wanted to see you smile again." Ryou said quickly, not wanting Marik to question how they actually got it. He didn't think Duke would appreciate it and anyway, Ryou was always willing to let people show their true selves. He looked at Marik and saw that he was ready to cry.

"Thank you guys…thank you so much…" He sniffed loudly and not wanting him to cry, Téa gave him a tissue so he could blow his nose. "What would I do without you?"

"Well that's what friends are for…" Téa said happily.

"Where are you going to keep it?" The others looked puzzled and Marik looked up at Duke. "Well I assume if it got…taken away from you then if someone finds it they'll just take it away again."

"One of us can look after it…" Yugi suggested.

"That's a good idea but we'll worry about that in a moment…" Duke reached into his bag and took out a Discman. "You may as well listen to it." Marik smiled before placing the CD in it and turning it on. He searched to track three and listened to it…

#When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful  
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical  
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily  
Joyfully, playfully watching me  
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible  
Logical, responsible, practical  
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable  
Clinical, intellectual, cynical#

#There are times when all the world's asleep  
The questions run too deep  
For such a simple man  
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned  
I know it sounds absurd  
But please tell me who I am#

#Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical  
Liberal, fanatical, criminal  
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're  
Acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable#

#But at night, when all the world's asleep  
The questions run so deep  
For such a simple man  
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned  
I know it sounds absurd  
But please tell me who I am  
Who I am  
Who I am  
Who I am#

This was Marik's favourite song and now the words just seemed to have more meaning than ever before. They just seemed to describe his situation perfectly but maybe he could put the whole thing behind him and start living life like he had done in the beginning, like it /_was_/ a miracle…

* * *

It's always nice to end a chapter with a song, but not with a crappy little thought blurb at the end. This chapter's ok, a lot less happens than I first thought actually. Just a couple of things I want to note today: 

(**1**) Dyscalculia – This is the number version of dyslexia.

2. C.R.E. is an idea from my sister's school and from the descriptions she gives me, it sounds pretty torturous. I consider it to be a watered down version of politics.

3. The CD that is mentioned right at the end is a CD that my friend made for me when she wrote me a play for Christmas and it was the soundtrack for it. And I do love it and "The Logical Song" is one of the tracks. I'm thinking of making it the title for the sequel, but I have to ask permission first.

4. One of my other favourite things is surrealism. It's just the coolest thing ever and even though I can't draw, I still like it. The 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus' is one of his best pieces and for an explanation of the title, first find a copy of the painting and then look up who Narcissus was. It'll make sense then.

But in general, everyone's been introduced and although it seems a bit weird that Kaiba, Malik and Bakura become friends with them, it's explained in the next part. Which will not be as long as this. Promise.

Please review as usual, mainly about how it's going or any little rants you'd like to have about how I've destroyed the characters. By the way, you might have got the impression that I don't like Téa very much but that isn't true. I think she's ok in the TV series, Yami actually annoys me more because he goes on about his destiny and everything is oh so deadly serious...I'm planning to fully exploit this in another story called 'Homo yamius', which is basically a piss take of the yamis and all their bad habits. But that won't be for a little while yet. Anyway, I'm blabbing on again so it's time for me to go and...PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks, love Chen.


	4. The Problems of the Heart

Hello, it's me with another chapter of my story! Many thankies to all my readers and reviewers!

**Lia Xaragi** – Don't worry, I love long reviews! They make me happy! As well as your kind words. I'm glad you think I managed to portray it so well, I've been worrying that everything in this story is a bit too cliché… Heh, I love your translation work as well, it definitely helped! Thank you for suggesting advertising, it would be greatly appreciated. But if you worried about your fingers then I probably shouldn't tell you that this chapter is 31 pages…oops. Hope you got those bandages ready. I think I've already explained the trilogy thing to you but just remember: there are 13 chapters in this story (including the prologue). So once again, thakn you very much!

**Yugi and Mai** – Don't worry about the review being late, at least you wrote one! Heh. Yeah, you sounding like you know what you're talking about is quite unusual. But I'm slightly worried about that thought that this is a exam… And thank you for your comments about Ryou, like Lia you both said I did him quite well. Which I was worried about because he's a bit cliché. And the number thing at the end…was it funny? I can't tell… Hmm, it seems like your stealing my story with your words… And yes, I'll "keep on typing" as you say I should because I'm not going to let a lack of reviews beat me! And as for being able to do it…what would you like me to do? Heh. Yep, I love the song too but I haven't listened to it for ages either. Could it be that you're influenced by my scene of Yami depending on destiny to make every decision? It's also great that you have opinions of how everyone acts, I always find that if you feel strongly about what a character has done ten the story's good! I actually have a big poster of the painting Ryou talked about. I was thinking I might get away with not having to hear about Yugi and Yami but nevermind. I won't even comment on what you said about them…

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh and Duel Monsters and for this part, the songs "Dear Diary" by Travis or "Take me out" by Franz Ferdinand. Both great songs! Also I don't own "You are my sunshine" by Jimmy Davis and Charles Mitchell, "Daisy" (can't find the writer) and "God is a DJ" by Pink. But I do own the story and the sonnet. Don't worry, it'll all make sense when you read it.

**Warning**: The bad word is going to be used again a couple of times. Sorry! There'll be some religious stuff in here too so if you're anti God or whatever, don't mind that bit. Anyway, it's only Christmas and Yami.

**Note**: From now onwards, ((blah)) is a mental link between Yami and Yugi. You'll find out when you read it.

"Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs while /_blah_/ is emphasis. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

Anyway, now the introduction stuff is done, I can move onto the story! Should be interesting, there are a lot of things happening today! But I won't spoil it for you! But as you can tell from the large number of exclamation marks, it's exciting! Well, I hope so anyway…!…? I don't think I needed an exclamation mark there…

Anyway, I'd better get on with this now, I get the feeling it's going to be longer than the last one. Hehe…

* * *

**Chapter three: The Problems of the Heart **

Over the next few months, not much happened to the group when it came to school apart from their end of term exams which put them into sets for their subjects. They were mostly in sets two or three except for they all seemed to have their specialities and were in set one because of that. It was now February, roughly half way through the year and most of the problems had been ironed out. Duke was now a permanent member of their group and had given up smoking, claiming that he was fed up of having to hide all the time. Yami seemed to have latched himself onto them with both suckers /_and_/ claws and refused to let go, much like a parasite would. But they put up with him, knowing it would be worse if they didn't. Bakura joined them occasionally but kept his distance most of the time, he felt uncomfortable with people who could forgive so easily. And Ryou's kindness just made him nervous; he was supposed to hate him. Malik meanwhile hardly ever talked to them and although he and Marik had called a truce, their relationship was still uneasy. He very rarely let anyone talk to him; even Duke and Bakura would go with talking to him only once a week. But they persisted, knowing that he could change if they did it long enough. And he /_was_/ changing, slowly.

So now everything was ok, or so they thought. But soon something would happened that would change the situation and the false sense of security they had been lulled into (Note from S. Chensu: Yeah, it's called plot).

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was one of those rare lunchtimes where everyone was sitting together and although Kaiba wasn't sitting with them, it was understood by all that he was listening. He had been hanging around them recently; they just saw him as another tree now. Yugi had asked him to sit with them but he merely got a blank look in response.

As usual, Joey had made a comment about Marik still living on salad and the fact that he had never eaten anything else.

"What about chocolate?"

"What's this 'chocolate'? I've never heard of it before." He said, making his accent heavier as he gave Joey a puzzled look.

"I can't believe you just said that! You are joking, aren't you?" Joey exclaimed, worried about Marik's mental well being.

"Of course I am! I /_do_/ eat chocolate, just not often that's all." Marik said, laughing at Joey's stupidity.

"Hey, anyone know the date?" Tristan asked, flicking through his planner.

"Thirteenth."

"Thirteenth? That must mean it's the fourteenth tomorrow and you know what that means don't you?" Ryou said with a smile on his face.

"Err…what's so special about tomorrow?"

"You mean you don't know? Have you never heard of St. Valentine's Day?" He seemed surprised; he thought everyone had heard of it.

"No. What is it?" Yugi said, interested by it although he didn't know what it was about.

"It's when people give cards and presents to their loved one to remind them why they love them." Ryou explained.

"Well it's all right for /_those_/ people but what about those who aren't with anyone?" Bakura pointed out.

"It's also the day when you tell someone you love them. You can send that person a card or a poem and tell them that you really like them but you make it anonymous."

"But what's the point of that? Surely it would be better if you told them out right?" Duke argued.

"That's not really the point though… I don't know why really, it's just tradition."

"Sounds rather silly to me." Yami said, sniffing loudly.

"Well it would, wouldn't it? It's something interesting and different so therefore it must be 'silly'." Malik snapped. Since the truce with Marik, his hate had been entirely shunted onto Yami instead, much to the delight of most of the others. Yami always seemed to look down on Marik and Ryou, just because they were born somewhere else, especially Marik. His accent, eye marks and the fact he was still wrapped up in a thick scarf and coat in February because Domino was so much colder than Egypt (by nearly 20°C) just made him strange. "Have /_you_/ ever had a card Ryou?" Malik enquired, smirking when he saw the blush on his face.

"Err…no, I haven't." He replied, continuing to glow red.

"Oh." He said indifferently. "So is there anything in particular you give?"

"Well you usually give them a card and something like a red rose or some chocolates."

"That doesn't seem like a lot…" Duke commented and Ryou sighed. He just /_didn't_/ get it.

"That's not the point. It's not supposed to be how much you spend but whether you mean it or not." Ryou explained calmly.

"And how can you tell that?"

"I don't know, you just do." He shrugged his shoulders and sighed again. "It doesn't matter anyway. Yami's right, it's just silly. There's no such thing as love."

"Hey, don't say that, of course it exists! We'll all find the right woman one day and we'll wonder why we ever questioned it." Bakura paused and thought for a moment. "Except for Téa, who's looking for a man." Everybody laughed and Bakura took this opportunity to glance at Yami. He wanted to make sure he hadn't said anything that could be reported, he didn't really want any hassle from the council. Luckily Yami looked neutral, pretending to laugh at his joke. #_That boy has no sense of humour, one day he's going to crack. If he doesn't do it to anyone else first though._#

xxxxxx

"Hey Ryou, where are you going?" Yugi said as the six of them sat in their form room the next day. Ryou had just got up and reached into his bag, taking a book out.

"I need to go to my locker and get my text book."

"That's a point, I need to get mine too. I'll come with you." He stood up and they made their way out of the room to the blocks of lockers lining the walls.

Ryou opened his locker and searched for his geography text book but stopped when he noticed something lying at the bottom of his locker: a red rose on top of a white sheet of paper. He looked around but no one apart from Yugi was nearby, so he slid the paper out from under the rose and opening it, read what it said.

#I know you have a Change of Heart  
But my heart won't change on this  
I know your favourite thing is art  
But could you spare me a kiss?#

#I know your kindness is the truth  
But why can't I be honest?  
I know you think I am a goof  
But my mind is like a forest#

#I know about the Ring you carry  
But why can't I carry it too?  
I know you think I shouldn't tarry  
But I don't want to be a fool#

#All of this I know, as you can see  
But what do you know about me?#

P.S. The rose is called "Angel Face", my fallen one.

He picked up the rose and stared at it. 'Angel Face'… Who was behind this and were they serious? Whoever it was, they had picked this day for a particular reason…

"Ryou, you not finished yet?" Yugi called out, walking towards him. Panicked, Ryou yanked his textbook out of the locker before slamming the door shut and spinning round to face him. "What are you hiding?" He asked, peering around Ryou at the locker, open just a crack.

"Nothing, I'm not hiding anything. Let's go." He tried to spin the combination lock but Yugi's hand stopped him, not threatening but firm.

"What are you afraid of?" He said gently and Ryou sighed, wondering if he should tell him the truth. They had got a lot closer over the last few months but still… What if he told someone about it? He would just have to risk it.

"This." He opened the door, allowing Yugi to see the rose and poem. He looked at the rose for a moment before reading the writing, his frown turning into a smile as he finished looking at it.

"Whoever it was certainly knows his poetry." He commented, a hint of approval in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"They've written this as a sonnet. This form was used for a lot of love poems back in the seventeenth century. See, it has fourteen lines of roughly equal length and its rhyming scheme is a-b-a-b with a rhyming couplet at the end. It's all here…" He looked at the sonnet again. "Well looking at this, there's some good news and some bad news." He turned to Ryou and grinned. "Which would you like first?"

"The good news?" He wasn't very sure he wanted either.

"Well the good news is that they seem to like you a lot… And the bad news-"

"Is it /_very_/ bad?" Ryou asked worriedly, the good news didn't even seem that good.

"Well…let's just say that 'they' is a he." Yugi muttered, causing Ryou to gasp.

"What, are you sure? Why does this have to happen to me?" This was bad, very bad. If anyone found out…

"I know it's bad but think about it… He wouldn't have told you if he didn't /_really_/ like you. Maybe even love you. It's definitely a male, look at the style it's written in. It's very rigid and the line "spare me a kiss" isn't very poetic, it's quite weak compared to the rest of it." He paused and looked at it again. "At least we can rule out Téa. But one thing I don't understand, what does he mean by change of heart?"

"I think…he…means this." Ryou reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a card before handing it to Yugi. "It's a bit sad really but it's my favourite."

Yugi looked at the green card and saw "Change of Heart" written at the top next to a Japanese symbol in a blue circle and a box of writing at the bottom. The picture showed a girl with long flowing brown hair and half of her was bathed in light, while the other was in shadow. Angel wing and bat on either side, controlled by either purple or orange. The girl wore a white robe, darker on one side and she held a heart, shining even in the darkness although it too was tainted by the purple. Two completely opposing sides yet still in the same person…

"What is it?"

"Have you ever heard of Duel Monsters?" Yugi shook his head. "Well I used to play it back in England with my friends and this is my favourite card. It's a magic card that lets you control your opponent's monster for one turn if it's on the field. It's a bit complicated to explain really without telling you about the whole game…"

"It looks really cool; you'll have to show me how it works. But that can wait until we've found out about this person and who he is. We need to write down a list of all the boys we know and gradually eliminate them. The only problem is that quite a lot of this stuff could count for everyone. I mean we all know you love art and about the Ring-"

"Hey Yugi and Ryou! How you doing?" They both twirled around and saw Bakura walking towards them.

"Hi…Bakura." Yugi said hesitantly as Ryou slammed his locker door shut again. "We're ok, everything's great!" He said cheerfully.

"Are you sure, you look like something's bothering you…" He said, stepping closer to them.

"No, it's just the fact we've got school today." Ryou said, sighing loudly and holding his textbook up so Bakura could see the front cover.

"Ouch, now that /_is_/ harsh. Anyway, I've got to go now; the bell will be ringing soon so see you."

"Yeah, see you at break time." Yugi replied and they watched in silence as he continued down the corridor, stopping in front of his locker. "That was close…"

"Too close. But he has a point, we should get back now…" Ryou opened his bottle and placed the rose in it, hiding it behind his other books along with the sonnet. He closed the door and they walked back to their form room, contemplating what had happened in silence.

xxxxxx

"So he got it then…" The person muttered, smiling when they thought of Ryou and his long, pale hair. His angel…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Oh God, I hope I'm wrong, for Ryou's sake…" Yugi stared down at the names on the piece of paper, in particular, the one that had only one tick missing from its row. "Oh Ryou…" Yugi sighed as he burnt the list, watching the ashes fall into the bin like snowflakes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Kaiba?" Yugi said in surprise when he opened the door on a Monday morning. It was a bank holiday and they had the day off from school so Yugi had invited everyone around his house. But he didn't expect /_Seto Kaiba_/ to make an appearance, even though he had asked him, much to everyone else's disgruntlement.

"Hello Yugi." He said, the arrogance missing for once from his voice. Was he being nice? Yugi was surprised; he didn't think Kaiba had heard of the word 'nice'.

"Everyone else is upstairs. You can put your coat and shoes in the cupboard." He pointed to the cupboard and Kaiba put his stuff in there. "Want something to eat or drink?"

"No thank you." He replied politely and smiling in acknowledgement, Yugi led him to his room where the others were sat either on the floor or on various bits of furniture, watching Ryou as he talked to them.

"Oh Yugi, you're back just in time to hear Ryou explain it." Joey said cheerfully until he saw Kaiba. He frowned and looked away while others said 'hi' in a lack lustre manner. Yugi sat down next to Joey on the bed while Kaiba perched himself on the edge of the chair at the desk.

"Ok, well it works like this. The cards are basically split into three groups: monster, trap and magic. The monster cards are further split into four groups: normal, effect, fusion and ritual. You can tell this by the colour of the background on the card. Normal is yellow, effect is orange, fusion is purple, and ritual is blue. All monster cards have an attack and defence number and this determines its strength. You see, a monster with a higher attack power than an opponent's monster's attack or defence points means it can destroy it. Attack is on the left and defence is on the right." Ryou explained, pointing to some examples he had in front of him.

"Sounds simple enough… So what about these different monsters?" Yugi asked.

"Normal ones just work like your average card, effect monsters can cause something to happen when activated, fusion monsters are formed from two or more other monsters (already corrected) to form a stronger one and ritual monsters need other monster cards to be destroyed to be allowed on the field, depending on the number of stars it has. Fusion cards need a card called 'Polymerization' to be summoned, and Ritual monsters need their special ritual magic cards to be summoned. You can't just use any old ritual magic card for a monster like you can with fusion monsters, though; each monster has their own ritual magic card, which specifically states what needs to be sacrificed to be able to summon the monster." They stared at the cards for a second, digesting the explanation.

"So…that card could destroy that one." Joey said, pointing from the Lady of Faith to the Man-Eater Bug.

"Err…no. Well it could, depending on the situation. True, the Lady of Faith has the higher attack power, but if the Man-Eater Bug's effect has just been activated then the Lady of Faith will automatically be destroyed; however, the Man-Eater Bug will get destroyed as its effect is a /_flip_/ effect. So, if the Man-Eater Bug is already face up, its effect won't be activated. Only when it gets changed from face down to face up position will it work, and it can only be activated once unless you are able to flip it face down again."

"Oh…" Clearly Joey didn't get a word of what Ryou had just said, but the others all nodded in understanding.

"What about these cards then? The magic and trap ones?" Marik said, staring at the pictures on the cards and the pretty colours.

"Well, basically you have to use these cards in combination with your monster cards to win a duel."

"So, do you have to put them in your deck?" Yugi said, also staring at the images.

"No, you don't, but if you don't then you will almost certainly lose a duel. You see, winning is not just about putting in strong monster cards. Sure, it will help, but using a weak card in combination with certain magic and trap cards-" Ryou held up a card and they saw 'Legendary Sword' at the top and underneath, a picture of a shining sword, "can power the monster up so it is equally as strong as any other monster. You may also have to use weak monsters in case your opponent uses a card which refines you to using cards with a certain attack power, like this one." He held up another card, this time 'Crush' was written at the top, posionous purple spores depicted underneath it.

"Right…" Téa said in total understanding…sort of.

"So what about the trap cards then?"

"Well these are cards that can only be used in certain situations. You have to place them on the field before you can activate them. Like this card, 'Trap Hole'." They saw a brown smooth furred monster at the bottom of a deep hole, shocked at having ended up there. "You can only use this when your opponent summons a monster to the field with an attack power of one thousand or more. However, if the card is in your hand, you cannot use it. Like 'Call of the Haunted', you can't use it in the same turn that you placed it on the field, even if there is a monster card in your graveyard." He stopped talking and waited for someone to say something.

It was soon clear that most of the others had been stunned into silence at an early stage (Note from S. Chensu: By the way, Luff wrote most of this but if I was one of them, this would be my reaction) while those who still had awareness of their surroundings were quickly losing it because of the amount of information they had been given. Ryou smiled to himself at the sight of the slightly gawping faces and cleared his throat.

"So then… Is there anything you still don't understand?" He asked innocently, receiving in return several disgruntled looks while some just glared. He remained quiet though, waiting for them to speak.

"Umm…most of it." Tristan whispered, finally able to glue his jaw back together in a shut position.

"Well maybe it would be easier if we had a practice duel. You can only really understand it properly when you play the game." Ryou looked hopefully around at them all. "So…who would like to volunteer to duel me?"

Silence. You could almost picture the crickets chirping in the background. "Um…no one?"

"I'll duel you." Everyone turned around in shock to look at Kaiba, from whom these words had been spoken. "This game sounds like a piece of cake. I bet I can beat you easily." Ryou cocked an eyebrow at him, but this soon turned into an uncertain smile as Kaiba made his way over to sit opposite Ryou.

"Well okay…um, you can use this deck I prepared." Ryou handed Kaiba a pile of face-down cards. "Before we start I should say that you have to have forty cards in your deck, no more and no less. Okay, so the first thing you need to do is shuffle your deck." Kaiba nodded, before expertly shuffling the cards, startling the others sitting the room. However this didn't seem to faze Ryou as he concentrated on his own deck. Once he was done, he looked up to see Kaiba staring at him. "Um, now we pass our own decks to the opponent and cut them."

Kaiba nodded, taking Ryou's deck and cutting them in half, placing the top half at the bottom of the deck before handing it back to Ryou.

"Okay, now I know this is a practice duel, but traditionally both players shake hands before drawing their hands." Kaiba stretched out his hand and breifly shook Ryou's, before turning to take cards from his deck. "Your hand is made of five cards on the first turn. Then whoever goes first draws an extra card before taking their turn. Each player has four thousand life points to begin with, but I'll explain more about it later."

They both drew five cards, Ryou briefly glimpsing over his while Kaiba took a minute to closely study the cards he had and their specific effects. Once he was ready he looked up and looked at Ryou expectantly.

"Um…well as this is your first duel, you can go first." Kaibe nodded, drawing another card and reading the explanation at the bottom. "Before you start, I should explain that if you want to place a monster in defence mode, place it sideways on the mat and face down. If you want it in attack mode place it straight on the mat and face up. Monster cards go along the top panel on the mat," here he indicated five squares lining the top of the mats they were using, "magic and trap cards go along the bottom, field spell cards go in the top left-hand square above the place for the fusion deck, if you have one. Your deck goes in the bottom right-hand square, and your discard pile is the one above that. Only one field spell card can be in play at one time- if another one gets played, the one that was already on the field gets destroyed." Kaiba nodded, before looking back to his hand.

"Well…I'll start by placing this card in attack mode." Ryou grimmaced when he saw what the card was.

"Um, Kaiba…that's a Kuriboh. That card is very weak. You would have done better to place it in defence mode, or not put it on the field at all. It's special affect can only be activated if it is in your hand." Ryou smiled sympathetically at him. "Finished?"

"No. I'll also place this card down…" Kaiba then proceeded to place a trap card down, Trap Hole, but placed it face up instead of face down.

"Kaiba…you need to turn it the other way around." Ryou reached over and turned the card face down. "Like that, see? Otherwise your opponent will know what you have played."

"Fine." Kaiba said huffily, before turning back to te cards in his hand. "I suppose I'm done."

"Now it's my turn then." Ryou drew his card, before smiling. "I'll play this monster card, the Lady of Faith. Her attack points are eleven hundred, whereas Kuriboh only has three hundred points. As my monster is the strongest, she wins the round, and your life points take eight hundred points of damage." Ryou scribbled this down onto a piece of paper that he was using to keep track of the life points for both of them. "So now you have three thousand, two hundred life points left. The first person who loses all of their life points loses the duel, or the first person to run out of cards from their deck. But Kaiba, if you had used your trap card then I wouldn't have been able to attack you."

"What!" This was the first time Kaiba actually looked annoyed, glaring at Ryou. "Why didn't you tell me!"

"Um…" Ryou looked frightened. "I had explained how that card works before…"

"Well I'll use it now then!" Kaiba was about to turn it over, but Ryou quickly interrupted.

"You can't do that though…" Kaiba froze. "You can only use it as soon as a monster has been summoned…but since I've already done something with my monster, you can't use it. This is not a card you can use any time you want."

"Fine." Kaiba said huffily, folding his arms.

"Kaiba looks like he's having a real good time…" Joey snickered in Yugi's ear, Yugi nodding in agreement. "I tell you now, I'm glad I ain't the one sitting down there…"

"Well, we'll see how things turn out." Yugi said, before turning back to watch the duel.

"Um, well to end my turn I'll place this card face down…" Ryou paced a card in the magic and trap section, before looking up at Kaiba. "Your move."

Kaiba picked up a card, examined it, and smirked. "Well I think I'll just have to play this card then…I choose Celtic Guardian in attack mode, and with an attack strength of fourteen hundred, it's more than enough to beat your Lady of Faith!" He smiled triumphantly. "Now, I attack your Lady of Faith! I believe that reduces your life points by three hundred." Ryou smiled.

"Yes, I think you're getting the hang of this." He wrote down the damage before continuing. "Finished?"

"Yes. I don't feel there is anything else I need to do." Ryou frowned a little at this, but shook it off as he pulled out his next card.

"Well, for my move I reveal my face down card, the Change of Heart!" Ryou turned his face down card over and smiled. "With this I can control one of your monsters for a turn and I choose your Celtic Guardian." He looked up at Kaiba and was surprised to see that his eyes were glinting in anger. It was just a game… "Kaiba?"

"How long have you had that card for?" He asked, his voice dangerously low.

"Um…it was one of my first cards. Why?"

"I think we need to have a little talk outside." It wasn't really a suggestion, it was more of a demand. And it made Ryou afraid, very afraid.

"Err…ok." He put his cards down on the floor slowly.

"Now." Kaiba grabbed his arm and pulled him up, causing Ryou to squeak and nearly topple over.

"What do you think you're doing Kaiba?" Téa shrieked, standing up too in front of them.

"This has got nothing to do with you so keep out of it." Kaiba snarled and Téa practically withered, jumping out of the way so she wouldn't be knocked over. He stood at the door with Ryou locked in his painful grip. "And that goes for all of you." Kaiba dragged the pale-faced boy through the door before slamming it shut.

"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Bakura yelled, storming towards the door.

"Wait Bakura! If you go out there then things could get even worse. It looks like Kaiba's really annoyed and he told us not to go out there. If we do, he might hurt Ryou and he could lose control of the Ring again." Yugi said, grabbing his arm to restrain him.

"Fine then but if he hurts him-"

"Then we'll stop him. You can take care of Kaiba while me and Marik deal with Ryou." Yugi suggested and Bakura nodded his head, relaxing just slightly.

Suddenly they heard a loud thump and a cry of pain coming from outside. Ignoring Téa and Yami's shouts, Yugi, Marik and Bakura ran into the hallway, pausing when they saw Ryou cowering away from Kaiba. He held his hand up to his nose and it was obvious he had just been hit in the head. Bakura snarled in anger and stepped forward, getting the attention of Kaiba. Yugi and Marik used this as an opportunity to get to Ryou and they did so, gasping in horror when they saw that he was bleeding. Marik then nearly fainted at the sight of the crimson red against the paper white and he staggered away towards the bathroom. Yugi decided this was as good a place to go as any so he led Ryou in the same direction, giving Bakura one last look before closing the door.

"What the fuck are you playing at Kaiba?"

"The Change of Heart…" He looked around, trying to find out where Ryou had gotten to.

"He's gone so don't even think about it. Anyway, you still haven't answered my question." Bakura stared at Kaiba, arms crossed.

"Why does it matter to you?" His arms snatched forward and he grabbed Bakura's hair, pulling it slightly. "You shouldn't poke your nose in other people's business…"

"You do when it's a friend…" Bakura muttered, feeling himself blush although he tried to hide it. He had always been able to hide it but somehow the stare of Kaiba brought everything to the surface, all of his feelings… His eyes lit up when he saw the colour appear on Bakura's cheeks.

"He's not a friend, is he?" He leant closer, pulling more on his hair. "You little faggot…" He spat on Bakura's face, twisting his fingers in his hair, causing Bakura to hiss in pain. "You disgust me…"

"I don't k-know what you're talking about." Bakura said, using a free hand to wipe his face.

"Don't lie to me, bitch. You've got a crush on Nancy, haven't you?" Bakura went even redder but was surprised when Kaiba let go of him and shrugged his shoulders. "Well you had better tell him then, hadn't you?"

"What?" Bakura used this opportunity to rub his scalp. After all, Kaiba had pulled rather hard.

"Tell him so I can finally get rid of you, Change of Heart…" He whispered the last part as the others had just appeared from the bathroom. "I know who and what you /_really_/ are." He said abruptly before making his way down the stairs and out of the house.

"What happened Bakura?" Yugi asked as they stepped closer to him.

"Oh, nothing really." He ran his fingers through his hair to try and calm himself down. "You okay Ryou?"

"Yeah, it was just a nosebleed." Ryou replied and smiling in relief, Bakura made his way back to where the rest of them were in Yugi's bedroom. Yugi and Marik followed him straight away but Ryou lingered for a moment, thinking about Kaiba's last words to Bakura. Although he had whispered them, Ryou had still caught a bit of it. Something flashed in his mind, words he had heard before…

#_I know you have a Change of Heart  
__But my heart won't change on this_#

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One ring. Two rings. Three rings.

"Hello?" The voice sounded groggy and Ryou wondered for a moment if he had woken the person up.

"Hi, is Bakura there please?"

"Yes, this is me." Ryou smiled, he didn't get his parents at least.

"I didn't wake you up, did I? Anyway, I was wondering if you could come round today…" He started to twist the phone cord in his fingers, something he always did when he was nervous. #_But why?_#

"No, I was already up." Bakura paused to yawn. "Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night. Why do you want me to come round?"

"I need some help with my I.T. project."

"I don't know…" Bakura didn't really like going around people's houses, he seemed to have a reputation with the parents. Luckily Ryou knew this, which was why he had phoned him today.

"My dad's still on his trip." He pointed out and smiled when he heard a small sigh of relief on the other end.

"Ok then, I'll be there in a few minutes." The phone clicked before the tone started and Ryou put it down.

"Just a few minutes…" Ryou said to himself in slight surprise as he sat down in the living room and turned on the TV, hoping to find something interesting. He settled for a documentary on American history and waited.

Ryou heard the knock on the door and suddenly feeling lazy, he yelled out, "The door's open." The door clicked open and clattered shut again, footsteps appearing in the hallway.

"Hey Ryou?" Ryou looked over his shoulder and saw Bakura peering around the corner, smiling at him.

"Thanks for coming. Want something to eat or drink?" Bakura shook his head. "Ok, let's go upstairs."

Ryou wasn't really sure what he wanted to do, yes he did need help with his I.T. project but there was another reason he had asked Bakura over: to sort out what had happened between him and Kaiba. Yugi had said they should write a list of everyone they knew but when Ryou had mentioned it again, Yugi had just ignored him. He had a vague suspicion that Yugi knew who it was but it was too horrible to talk about, which meant it was someone unlikely. And what had happened at Yugi's house made him think about it more. Why had Kaiba called Bakura 'Change of Heart'? Why had he not seemed surprised when he was called that? Was he expecting it and Ryou had been mistaken as the culprit in something unknown? Did Bakura know about the Change of Heart card already, at the time the sonnet was written? Whatever the reasons, Ryou felt the need to tell Bakura about it and try and get a reaction out of him. And if he was mistaken, he would merely wipe his memory using the Ring, he knew how to use his Millennium Item better than Yugi and Marik did at any rate.

It turned out that he needn't have worried about what to do as he had left the sonnet lying on his bed anyway. He watched as Bakura's eyes glanced upon it but instead of becoming more interested, his eyes quickly shifted away from it and onto the floor. Well, now was as good a time as any other, Ryou supposed.

"Did you write it?" His voice caused Bakura to jump and look at him in surprise.

"Write what?"

"That." Ryou pointed to the bed and Bakura followed the finger to the piece of paper, although he avoided looking at it directly. "Because if you did, it's important for me to know the truth." Bakura took the white sheet and read it, his face remaining neutral as he placed it down beside him.

"Why is it important?" He asked, as though only vaguely interested in what he had read, even though it went against everything this society believed.

"Did you write it?"

"Why is it important?" Bakura repeated, causing Ryou to sigh in frustration. Why was he treating it like it didn't matter? It had affected him so much and he yet he didn't seem to care.

"Because…I need to know if you wrote it or not… Because I need to know you care-" Suddenly he felt a hand across his mouth, preventing him from speaking as Bakura leant against him, whispering in his ear.

"Don't say anything, your room's bugged. Change what you were going to say…" He murmured, his voice barely disturbing the surrounding air as he came closer. "Repeat your last sentence but make the topic something else…" He took a few steps back, allowing Ryou to think about what had just been said. His room was bugged? And now he had to talk about something else?

"Because I need to know you care about your education." He said, cursing himself for the weakness of his sentence. But Bakura didn't react at all, as though he hadn't told him that something was wrong.

"Why, so you can get me arrested?" He snapped, his voice sounding cold and far away. Was he acting?

"Just tell me Bakura."

"No, I /_don't_/ especially care about my education." Ryou stood there, numb by what he had just heard. He didn't understand, was Bakura going along with the topic or was he just acting as though 'education' was a code word? That he was telling the truth?

"I don't understand…" Ryou whispered, recoiling away from the coldness and closed body language of Bakura.

"Then I will reiterate. I do not care about anything in this place." He said slowly for the sake of Ryou's lagging brain cells. "Why does it matter anyway?"

"Because…" Ryou couldn't take any more and the Millennium Ring appeared around his neck as he started to flicker blue. He felt trapped, Bakura wanted to hurt him, he was the source of danger so-

"Ryou, what are you doing?" An image flew fleetingly through Bakura's mind, another Ryou, something that had harmed him before. Something Ryou couldn't control…

"You will not hurt me." His voice seemed to echo as he grew brighter, his eyes now lifeless.

"Don't do this Ryou, please…" Bakura stepped forward and grabbed his hand, squeezing slightly, shocked by the weight and coldness of it. It seemed to be made of marble, smooth in his hand.

"What?" The warmth reappeared in Ryou's hand as he blinked, unsure of what had happened before collapsing in Bakura's arms, forcing them both to the ground. "I did it again, didn't I?" He mumbled and when Bakura didn't say anything, he started to cry.

"/_No/_, you didn't hurt me." Bakura reassured him, grabbing his other hand and holding it tightly.

"Bakura, do you care-"

"About you?" He paused, reaching up to stroke Ryou's face. "Yes, a lot. But none of that matters if you don't feel the same way. Has all of this just happened for no reason?"

"I-" Ryou hadn't thought about this. #_I've been too busy trying to find out who had written the sonnet to realise the consequences. By doing this, Bakura thinks he might have a chance, despite the fact I'm not really sure. I'm just putting myself in danger; I don't even like Bakura like that. But after forcing him to admit how he feels, do I really have the right to tell him I don't feel like that? To pretend would be even worse though because I would have to face the truth sooner or later and that would break Bakura's heart. To deny him now would do exactly the same thing though, I'm stuck either way. I have to give him an answer…_#

"Ryou?" Bakura's hand had left his face and Ryou suddenly realised he missed it being there…sort of. Then an idea popped into his head, so stupid it was pointless but maybe it could decide something for him personally.

"It!" He stated, poking Bakura on the nose. He frowned, watching as Ryou then stood up and backed away a few steps. "I said you're it! Don't you know how to play?" He cocked his head to the side and giggled.

"I know how to play but…what's the point?" Bakura didn't really appreciate Ryou trying to put him off.

"Because it will be fun!" He said, spinning around on the spot. Bakura wondered about Ryou's mental stability, but maybe he was trying to show him something.

"Ok then, I'm it." He watched as Ryou leapt onto the bed before taking a few steps forward, thinking about how he was going to tag him. #_He does have the height advantage at the moment. I've got two options: I either make a leap of faith towards the bed or I circle him until he moves._# Bakura went for the latter one; he could be very patient when necessary. Anyway, he didn't feel like falling ungracefully at Ryou's feet, even if that meant being near him.

Ryou watched Bakura warily as he circled to the other side of the bed, moving occasionally. What was he up to? Well, whatever it was, it was making Ryou nervous. He felt cornered and considered moving off the bed just to be caught but then he noticed the mischievous glint in Bakura's eyes and realised he was doing this on purpose, to get him to move. Well two could play at that game…

"Don't think you can fool me Bakura Zork." Ryou said, crossing his arms in mock seriousness and pouting in a way that rivalled that of a fish.

"Whatever do you mean?" Bakura threw his hands up, the image of innocence with his wide eyes. Until he realised that Ryou was going to fall off the bed if he moved back any more. "Ryou, don't move." He said quietly, stepping forward cautiously in case Ryou got the wrong idea.

"Why not?" He asked quietly, unfolding his arms. This was all the momentum that was needed for gravity to start working, pulling him down towards the harsh carpet.

"Ryou!" Bakura yelled as he leapt onto the bed, managing to capture his legs by wrapping his arms around them. Although this slowed his descent, it didn't stop it and Bakura was sent tumbling over, half landing on Ryou.

"Ow." Ryou mumbled, not only because of his backside but the fact Bakura was on top of him. He quickly realised this though and moved, lying on his back next to Ryou.

Ryou could already feel the bruises forming and so shifted himself so he was lying on his side, facing Bakura. He stared at him while he continued to look upwards at the ceiling.

#_Why didn't he tell me I was __going to fall off?_# Ryou pondered. #_Fine he told me not to move but how was I supposed to realise it was because I was on the edge of the bed? Even if he did try and stop me, it was too late… Maybe it was just me being silly, expecting him to try and prevent it from happening. It's not like he could have known…_#

"Are you ok Ryou?" Bakura suddenly asked, turning so he was also lying on his side. Ryou saw the sadness in his eyes and the fear…the fear of being rejected. He was a nice person and a friend in some ways but could he…?

He leant forward and placed his lips on top of Bakura's but apart from this did nothing, not sure of what to do. Bakura smiled and responded, placing his arms around Ryou's waist to bring him closer, watchful not to hurt him. They kissed gently, careful not to make any noise before Bakura broke it, letting Ryou cuddle up to him and sighed. He had his little angel now but…

"Ryou, are you sure about this? If anyone ever finds out it will be you they take, not me." He whispered, causing Ryou to look up at him and frown.

"Why?"

"Because you're the innocent one. They know everything about everybody, it wouldn't take them long to figure out that the only thing that could kill me was if you were gone. Fine, they could hurt me physically but it's not the same." He paused and hugged him. "I would rather not have you than see you taken away…"

"Bakura, it's a risk I'm willing to take. I know what could happen to us but if we don't try then…" He tailed off and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Anyway, none of the others have to find out. We see each other every day and even if we can't be together then, we can at my house. My dad's not in often and Anne only checks on me once a day."

"Who's Anne?"

"My next door neighbour. Dad asked her to just pop in every so often to make sure everything's ok while he's gone on his trips. And then I have to see my doctor once a week…" He saw Bakura's puzzled face and smiled. "He just makes sure I haven't gone crazy or anything and tries to analyse me, see why I am what I am."

"Because of your bulimia?"

"Yeah, mostly. Although of course he thinks I'm over that now so it's not too bad."

"But Ryou…" Bakura stared at him in worry. He was still making himself sick? Why was he trying to hide it?

"Yes, well it's less hassle. Anyway, it's not like he cares, he just likes the money my dad pays for him." He replied bitterly, looking away from Bakura.

"But /_I_/ care! If you're still making yourself sick-"

"I'm not, ok! Why is everyone so bothered?" Ryou pulled himself out of Bakura's arms and stood up. "Just…" He sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. "Don't talk about it."

"Why not? I just want to know you're ok…" He sat up but didn't move to sit on the bed in case Ryou snapped at him again.

"I'm fine. I just don't like talking about it, my doctor makes me do it all the time and I'm…fed up in a way…" He glanced at Bakura and he nodded his head in understanding.

"Do you want me to go?"

"No, I just want…I don't know any more. To not have to worry about it I suppose." He fell back on the bed and closed his eyes.

"Then you don't have to. Do you still want help with your project?" Bakura said, dramatically changing the subject as he smiled slyly. "Or was that just a pretence?"

"No I did need some help with my project actually." Bakura walked over to the computer and sat down at the chair, turning it on. "It was only a couple of things."

"Well that's all right then." Ryou sat up on the edge of the bed, watching as Bakura started tapping keys.

"What are you doing?"

"Shush, I'm checking something." He said quietly, scrolling down a now black screen filled with white writing. "Ah ha, here it is." He double clicked on something and suddenly Ryou could hear their voices.

"Bakura, do you care-"

"About you?" There was a pause. "Yes, a lot. But none of that matters if you don't feel the same way. Has all of this just happened for no reason?"

"I-"

"Ryou?"

Soon their voices were gone again and Ryou turned to Bakura in amazement, wondering how he did it.

"It's the recording from the microphone in your room. I'm going to have to delete most of the conversation, a lot of it would be considered highly dangerous." Bakura commented as he rewound to the beginning of the conversation. Occasionally he would mutter to himself as he deleted it but soon it was done. "I've changed it so it won't pick up anything we say for the next half an hour. It means we can talk freely."

"How did you do that?" Ryou asked slowly.

"I assume you heard Kaiba and what he said to me?"

"He called you the 'Change of Heart'. But I don't understand…" He frowned, trying to remember what Kaiba had said to /_him_/.

"That's my secret. I /_am_/ the Change of Heart, the person who's been hacking onto Kaiba's security system." Ryou remembered him saying it when they first met and told him about everyone else too.

"So that's how you know stuff about everyone else…" Ryou said in disgust, wondering why anybody would want to do something like that.

"Yes, I know you think it's bad but nobody knows about it unless I tell them. I did it for you because I wanted to know more, you were…" He stopped talking, knowing he couldn't really make any excuses. "I don't really know why I did it, I just knew that it was the only way I could keep one step ahead of the council. They're on to me because they think I'm a danger to society. Which in a way is right I suppose."

"Hmm…well I didn't really appreciate being told stuff about my friends."

"But not all of the stuff I told you was on their files. Most of the things I said were just guesses." Bakura pointed out.

"And that makes everything better?" Ryou questioned, eyebrow raised.

"No, it doesn't really." Bakura paused and turned in the chair so he was facing Ryou. "I can understand if you don't want me here anymore."

"Don't worry about it, just don't tell me any of the stuff you find out, okay?" Ryou smiled to himself. "The thought of Kaiba and his face every time you're mentioned to him is a picture! You have to carry on just because of that."

"He knows about me and my feelings for you." Bakura argued.

"Well as long as he doesn't find out, it'll be ok. We can be careful and one day we'll tell him when he can't do anything to hurt us. I can't wait to see how he would react to the news."

"Yeah, I suppose it would be funny…"

"Of course it will! Now that that's dealt with, you can do some of my project for me."

"/_Do some of it_? I thought you just wanted some help!" Bakura exclaimed.

"Err…well I may have exaggerated slightly the situation between me and my project." Ryou said, smiling hopefully.

"Obviously. Fine then, I'll do it but only if you kiss me afterwards."

"Hmm, sounds easy enough." Ryou relied, laughing.

"That's what you think…" Bakura laughed too but his was more evil, not helped by the glinting eyes.

"Meep!"

"Don't worry, you'll be ok…maybe." This did not reassure Ryou at all.

"Great."

xxxxxx

Ryou was walking to school with Marik that Monday, remembering what Bakura said to him afterwards. They weren't supposed to act any differently around each other, no sitting next to each other, no significant looks. They had to keep control of their emotions. Which Ryou was finding difficult to do, despite the fact he didn't know how he actually felt about Bakura. It was just the fact he had a little secret that no one else knew about and that they were basically breaking one of the boundaries in society, indulging in one of its taboos.

#_I really want to tell someone though, just one person, so I can get it off my chest._# Ryou thought in frustration. #_I told Bakura about Yugi seeing the sonnet and he nearly had a fit and then made me promise not to tell him what had happened. But surely it wouldn't do any harm? If Yugi hadn't reacted that badly when he found out it was a boy then why would this be any different? He could have been pretending but most people can't hide their disgust when it's mentioned, which is very rarely as it's forbidden. I'll mention it to Yugi and see what he says…_#

"Hey Ryou, Earth to Ryou. Anyone in there?" Marik asked, startling Ryou out of his thoughts. "I know it's a Monday but there's no need to be depressed, only five more days to go until the weekend."

#_Yeah, and when I can next spend some time with Bakura…_# Ryou added silently, smiling at Marik. "Yeah, you're right. I was just thinking."

"About anything in particular?"

"Nah, just about the future and stuff." Which was true in a way.

"You mean our options for next near? Yeah, they might be hard. You know what you want to do yet?"

"No, that's what I was thinking about." Ryou paused and shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm not going to worry about that until my dad comes home so I can talk to him about it."

"When will he be back from his trip?"

"On Thursday or Friday, I'm not sure. I'll check the calendar at some point." Ryou replied as they entered the school gates.

They found the others sitting on a bench near the school doors and as soon as Joey saw them, he started shrieking something about them taking too long and his frozen backside while Téa tried and failed to shut him up. Marik shook his head as another argument started up while Ryou noticed that Marik was finally brave enough to remove his gloves and one scarf. Now just the coat and scarf were left. And it was nearing the end of March. Which according to Marik was quite good.

They finally reached the group and seeing Yugi, Ryou edged over to him and caught his eye. Yugi instantly realised that he wanted to speak to him in private and so told the others they would meet them in a minute as they went inside to their homeroom.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Yugi asked as Ryou sat down on the bench.

"I found out who wrote the sonnet." Ryou whispered, looking around to make sure no one was nearby. Yugi did the same and frowned.

"Don't say who it is, I think this place is bugged." He muttered and stood up. "You'll have to show me another way." Ryou thought for a moment and then grinned.

"Do you know any sign language?" He said, also standing up as he followed Yugi in a trip around the school.

"No."

"Then I'm going to teach you. It'll only be the letters but you use them for names anyway."

Yugi looked interested as Ryou showed him how to use his hands before starting on the letters. Luckily Yugi was a quick learner and he knew most of them by the time they got back around to the bench they had started from. He occasionally got confused between the letters l, m and n but Ryou didn't seem concerned about that. It's not like Bakura's name had any of those letters anyway. They agreed that Ryou would tell Yugi while Miss Abrahams was reading out the morning announcements, as nobody would be paying them any attention then. Luckily Yugi sat behind Ryou diagonally so he would be able to see his hands with ease.

The bell went and they sat down at their places, waiting for the teacher to do the register in silence before she started waffling on about doing a presentation of some sorts. Yugi looked down at Ryou's hands, watching in silence as he signed the letters slowly. B. A. He couldn't get the next one. U. R. A. Well, he knew only one person with a name beginning with B so at least he now knew that unknown letter. K.

Bakura. He kind of expected it; it was who he had thought had written it too. And from the looks of things, Ryou didn't seem especially upset, unless he was hiding his emotions very well which meant that they were now…together.

"REALLY?" Yugi shouted out before he suddenly realised he was in a classroom. A silent one at that. Everyone turned to stare at him while Ryou looked at him with a mixture of worry and panic.

"Yes, Yugi Muto /_really_/. Now please sit down in your chair." He was standing up? Yes, he was. And his chair was sideways on the floor too. Oh how embarrassing… Yugi felt himself go red as he picked his chair back up and sat down on it, sinking rapidly under the desk with his collar up around his face so no one could see its glow.

Luckily she was soon finished talking about something or other and the people started chatting to each other about what they had done over the weekend so they were now ignoring Yugi. Apart from five people, who all turned to face him.

"Are you feeling ok Yugi?" Joey asked, trying to lean over so he could feel his forehead, only to get an elbow in the side by Téa.

"Yeah, it was just the excitement of what Miss Abrahams said." Yugi said nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Quite…" Marik said, nodding his head.

"Really!"

"That's what you just yelled out." Téa commented, causing Yugi to go red again. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, nothing's wrong."

"As long as /_you're_/ sure about that."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

#The other night, dear  
As I lay sleeping  
I dreamed I held you in my arms.  
When I awoke, dear  
I was mistaken  
And I hung my head and cried#

#You are my sunshine  
My only sunshine  
You make me happy  
When skies are grey  
You'll never know dear  
How much I love you  
Please don't take my sunshine away.#

#I'll always love you  
And make you happy  
If you will only say the same  
But if you leave me  
To love another  
You'll regret it all some day#

#You are my sunshine  
My only sunshine  
You make me happy  
When skies are grey  
You'll never know dear  
How much I love you  
Please don't take my sunshine away.#

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He felt the pain rush through his body and hissed, watching the blood pour down his arm and onto his trousers. Yet as he did so, the face appeared in his mind again, the sunshine to his moon…

"NO!" Yami screamed, clenching his fist in frustration. "I shouldn't be thinking about him, it's bad. It's unnatural, it's disgusting…" He nodded to himself, he was right. So why couldn't he get him out of his mind?

He had done everything to stop the emotions going through his body. He had burnt, frozen, electrocuted, cut himself but nothing worked. He still felt the same. But he didn't want to turn himself in, despite the fact that is what he should have done. Things had gotten so far that he didn't even want to unwittingly hurt him; he didn't deserve to go through what he would go through. And if he gave himself in then that is what would happen. The thought of the sunshine hurt just made him want to…

"Stop thinking like that! This isn't supposed to happen… I'm all alone. If he ever found out that I think about him like this, he'd hate me forever. And I don't want him to hate me, even though I hate myself…" He examined the cut on his arm, done with a knife and frowned, not yet satisfied. It wasn't good enough, he needed something more…

But he was starting to give up; he just didn't think he could change how he felt any more. He had tried for months without success so what was the point? He should just embrace these feelings and die from the loneliness he would feel, banned from being with his sunshine… /_His sunshine_/.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

#Dear diary  
What is wrong with me?  
Cos I'm fine between the lines#

#Be not afraid  
Help is on its way  
A sentence suspended in air way over there#

#Dear diary  
What else could it be?  
As nightshade descends like a veil  
Under the sail of my heart  
Be still  
Don't stop until the end#

#Dear diary  
What is wrong with me?  
Cos I'm fine between the lines#

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Yami, what's wrong? You look really sad about something…" Yugi asked as he sat on his bed, his homework spread out around him while Yami sat on the floor beside it, staring blankly at the book in front of him.

"Nothing." His voice was lifeless; he had given up on hiding his depression from everyone. They had all been surprised by his recent behaviour, especially Téa. Even though most of them didn't really like him, they had tried to cheer him up but without any result. She had given up on him, wondering what had happened to the person she admired. None of them knew what was wrong though; only Bakura had a slight suspicion but instantly gave up on it, remembering who it was he was thinking about. Yami Atemu would never feel like that…

"Of course something's wrong, you look like someone's sucked the soul out of you…" Yugi said, lying down on the bed so he could talk to him better. Yami looked up at him but saw the smile and had to look away again, in case he did something in front of him.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just…fed up I suppose." This was the most he had ever said about what was wrong with him and Yugi cheered mentally, maybe he was finally opening up. Because although the others had only tried to cheer him up because they felt obliged to, Yugi really wanted him happy again. Because it hurt him to see Yami sad. So maybe he could finally find out why…

"With life?" Yugi said casually.

"Everything. Just the fact that-" He stopped, suddenly realising what he was going to say. No, he couldn't do that to Yugi. "Nothing, it doesn't matter."

#_Damn him and his stubbornness! I was nearly there…_# Yugi sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so. Can you look at this for me?" He passed over his maths homework and Yami took it, looking at the writing, although he didn't seem focused on it.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if…things weren't the way they were?" Yami asked hesitantly and Yugi frowned.

#_Why is he asking me that? Is he trying to catch me out or something? I know I tried to make him out to be someone nice at first but even /_I_/ realised that he's got strong connections to the council._# Yugi remained silent, not sure of how to respond. He didn't want to lie in front of Yami but if that meant not being in trouble, he was willing to do it.

"Don't worry, I don't want to tell the council anything. There isn't really much point anyway…" Yami said, guessing as to the reason of Yugi's silence.

"Well, yeah I do wonder what things would be like. Don't you? I mean, if we knew about somewhere else, we could find out if this place is good or not. But maybe it is, Marik and Ryou don't seem to complain and they haven't even been here for very long…"

"Maybe they're afraid to give their real opinion on it. Maybe they don't like it here…" Yami argued and looked down. "Maybe they're right." He whispered.

"Why do you say that? What's changed Yami?" Yugi had never heard Yami utter a bad word about Domino and the council before; he doubted Yami had ever even /thought/ a bad word. Maybe this was to do with his depression…

"Everything…I've changed. I said it because…" He stopped talking and looked down at Yugi's maths work. "It's all right."

"No it's not Yami, something is going on and I want to know what it is!" Yugi said, frustrated at the continuing circles he was going in.

"I was talking about your homework." Yami said, smiling slightly as Yugi blushed.

"Ah, sorry." He took the book and busied himself with putting it back in his bag. "I didn't mean to yell."

"Don't worry, you're right I suppose. Something is going on but I can't tell you what. I'm sorry but that's the way things have to be." Yami said sadly as he picked up his biology book and started writing in it.

"Are you sure?" Yugi wanted Yami to be happy again but he wasn't going to force him on the issue. If he felt that was the only way it could be then that would have to do. Even if it made him sad…

"Don't worry, it'll be ok." Yami said, trying to be cheerful, although it was obvious this was a lie.

"Okay."

They continued working in silence, much to Solomon's surprise when he came in to give them a drink and biscuits. Usually they were chatting about some trivial thing but now… He had noticed that Yami had been looking a little depressed recently but couldn't pinpoint the reason why. From the look on his face though, he wanted something and he could only guess as to what that thing was. All he could hope was that Yugi realised this and would try to do something about it…

Soon Yugi had finished his homework but still they sat in silence, Yami too busy being depressed while Yugi was now desperate to find out what was wrong. He hated seeing people sad, they had better things to do than dwell on the down side of life. He wanted Yami to be happy… No, he just wanted Yami…

#No, don't think that, it's never going to happen.# Yugi silently scolded himself. #But I still want to know… He said something to do with Domino, if things could be different. How could things be different? They could pry less maybe. Oh I don't know, I've never lived anywhere else, I don't know /how/ they could be different. What is it that Marik and Ryou say?# Yugi tried to remember them saying something about where they used to live but couldn't come up with much. #I know that Ryou didn't really understand how important marriage is, nor did he seem as bothered about Marik's therapy as everyone else was. It could have just been because he didn't understand the terminology but somehow I don't think so… He doesn't have the same view on…sodomites…# Yugi hated saying that word, it was almost as bad as calling them f…s. His grandpa had always taught him to respect everyone's differences and Yugi included this, even if others didn't. Plus his feelings about Yami put him into this category he supposed… #as everyone else does. Is this what Yami means? He wishes it was so bad?# But even if this was true, Yugi wasn't sure how to test it. Unless… #I think I might have it.#

He looked over at Yami and noticed that he still looked depressed. Now would be the perfect time to start his plan… Making sure all of his books were clear from his bed, he yawned loudly and fell back on his bed, closing his eyes. Yami instantly noticed this and started worrying.

"Yugi, what are you doing?" He asked as Yugi rolled onto his side, looking blearily at him.

"I'm feeling tired so I'm just going to lie here with my eyes closed. You can still do your homework, don't mind me." Yugi said cheerfully and he closed his eyes again, leaving Yami to stew in his own panic.

"Please don't go to sleep Yugi, what will happen if your grandfather finds us like this?" No reply from Yugi. "Yugi, don't tell me you're already asleep? I don't believe that…" Nevertheless he remained quiet, watching Yugi as his chest slowly rose and fell. He looked so beautiful… #No, what have I said about thinking like that? Especially when I'm near him…so near, I could touch him. Just this once…# Yami shook his head resolutely; he wasn't going to risk it. If Yugi woke up he could be in big trouble, and not just for touching another boy, but a Millennium Item holder too.

His hand was so tempting though. It was just sitting there, spread out. Just a quick touch wouldn't hurt surely…? Yami felt his own hand reaching out, despite his mind telling him not to and soon it was resting on top of Yugi's. He stared for a moment before he suddenly realised what he was doing and pulled his hand away again. He let it rest beside Yugi's, near enough for comfort but not actually touching. And still he slept on, totally ignorant of what was happening, for which Yami was glad. As least Yugi could say he was unaware if he was caught. But still, to imagine them holding hands, Yugi sleeping his arms… He could almost feel it, the warmth of Yugi's hand in his own as he squeezed in reassurance. Wait…this wasn't his imagination, this was real.

He looked down in surprise and saw Yugi had grabbed his hand, intertwining his fingers in Yami's own, a small smile on his face. Yami squeezed slightly, just to make sure this was genuine and gasped when he felt Yugi respond. Did he really feel the same way? Could Yami have been so lucky?

He felt Yugi grab his other hand and place it on the Puzzle before he started to glow a pale red. Yami wondered for a moment what was happening, could Yugi be punishing him for doing something like this?

((Don't worry, this is just so we can talk in private.)) He heard Yugi's voice in his head yet his lips weren't moving. What was going on? ((I can use the Millennium Puzzle to communicate with you mentally. As long as you are touching it…))

((Okay.)) Yami was still worried though; he hadn't said anything about their hands being together. ((Yugi, are you saying that…)) He squeezed Yugi's hand to try and show what he meant and he swore he saw Yugi shaking his head.

((No, I'm just holding your hand in this very significant manner for no reason at all.)) Yugi said, giggling.

((Yugi…)) Yami whined, he didn't want to joke at the moment. ((Do you…))

((Yes Yami, I want to be with you. I don't care what we're supposed to believe in, this is what I believe in at the moment…)) He moved his hand slightly to show what he meant.

((You know we'll never able to live freely.)) Yami pointed out.

((Yes, I know but one day we'll leave here and then we can be happy without having to worry about everyone else and what they think.)) Yugi said in determination. He just didn't understand…

((Yugi, we'll never be able to leave here. Trust me, I know. I've seen what they do to people who try to leave this place, I've seen the borders and what they're like. We would probably die trying to escape from here.))

"Then so be it! Yami, we /will/ leave here, whatever it takes. One day we will, I promise you. Would /you/ promise me that?" Yugi suddenly burst out, sitting up and pulling Yami onto the bed, his eyes burning.

"Yes, I promise you that we will leave here one day, together." He watched as Yugi sat in his lap, putting his arms around his neck and lowering him down to his height. Yami put his arms around Yugi too, bringing them closer together as their lips met. This went against everything Yami believed in but he didn't really care. It felt right…

((I love you…)) He heard quietly in his mind and he felt the Puzzle press against his chest as Yugi tightened their hug.

"I love you too…" He whispered into the kiss, feeling the butterflies in both his and Yugi's stomach. This was the only thing he believed in now…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

#Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do  
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you  
It won't be a stylish marriage  
I can't afford a carriage  
But you'll look sweet upon the seat  
of a bicycle built for two#

#There is a flower within my heart,  
Daisy, Daisy  
Planted one day by a glancing dart  
Planted by Daisy Bell  
Whether she loves me or not  
Sometimes it's hard to tell  
Yet I am longing to share the lot  
of Beautiful Daisy Bell#

#Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do  
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you  
It won't be a stylish marriage  
I can't afford a carriage  
But you'll look sweet upon the seat  
of a bicycle built for two#

#We will go tandem as man and wife  
Daisy, Daisy  
Pedalling away down the road of life  
Me and my Daisy Bell  
When the road's dark we can both despise  
Policemen and lamps as well  
There are bright lights in the dazzling eyes  
Of beautiful Daisy Bell#

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was one of those days where Marik was walking home on his own because Ryou had a doctor's appointment and his sister just took too long to get out of school. Plus, he liked to walk alone sometimes. He could think and not have to worry about how he acted. He could just be himself…

"Hello Marik." He looked up when he heard the voice and saw Malik leaning against the wall of the alleyway he was walking down.

"Oh, hey Malik. What are you doing here?" They seemed to get on better now but Marik always avoided being alone with him, he made him feel nervous. He made /most/ people feel nervous in fact. It was the way he stared, his eyes were so lifeless, they didn't have much colour and even the pupils seemed to be missing. Then there were the scars he had running down either side of his face, no one was brave enough to ask how he had got them…

"I was waiting for you." He replied tonelessly and Marik frowned.

"Why? If you wanted to talk to me, why didn't you do it at school?"

"Because it's not the sort of thing you talk about at school." Now Marik was very worried, he didn't want to be here. Why couldn't Ryou have been with him today? "And plus I had to wait until you were walking home on your own." He added.

#So this would have happened at some point then? Why me?# Marik sighed mentally. "What did you want to talk about?"

"About your little snitch."

"Are you still bothered with that? What does it matter to you?" Marik was annoyed; he hated this subject being brought up. The others knew that they weren't supposed to talk about it so why couldn't /he/ get the point?

"I know who did it to you." He stated, still leaning on the wall.

"And? Me knowing who told the council about Lee won't make any difference to the fact it happened." Malik remained silent, as though unconvinced by what Marik had just said. "I'm over it now anyway." He added, more for his sake than Malik's.

"Even if I told you the name, right here, right now?" Why was he trying to tempt him? He was just reopening old wounds…

"Why do you want to tell me now? You could have said it ages ago if it mattered to you that much." Marik argued, stepping closer. He did want to know in a way…

"Because I've been trying to forget about it." He said, just a little emotion coming into his voice.

"Why? It didn't affect you in any way."

"It was me Marik, I told them about Lee."

Marik was first stunned, then angry. Him? And he had the audacity to try and talk to him, try and be civil? He made his fucking life miserable, the bastard! Before he knew it, Marik had lunged at him, pinning him against the wall.

"You bastard! Why did you tell me? Do you want to make my life even more miserable than it already is? Do you enjoy taunting me, seeing how much I can go through before I crack?" He screamed, but Malik merely closed his eyes and sighed.

"I told you because I couldn't hide the truth any more. I realise now I should never have hurt you like this, I didn't mean for everything to happen the way it did…" And before Marik knew it, his lips were being pressed against Malik's. What was going on? This wasn't supposed to happen; now he was in trouble…

"Malik get off me!" He started crying, everything blurred suddenly… He saw Malik's face, the concern on it but he just wanted to get out of there, he didn't like the feeling. He had to find someone…Odion…

xxxxxx

"And…that's what happened…" Marik whispered, now at home, now sitting on Odion's lap being rocked back and forth as he cried. He shuddered suddenly and looked up at Odion, confusion on his face. "Odion, why am I here? What have I just said?"

"You just told me about Malik and what happened. Don't worry, it's all over now." He replied. #I didn't realise this was part of his therapy…#

"Please…Odion. Don't tell mum. Or anyone about this. Please." Marik pleaded, desperately trying to stop himself from crying.

"Why not? He assaulted you Marik!"

"Because I don't want any more therapy…I don't want to go back there again, it hurt so much…" Odion had never heard Marik talk about what had happened before. In fact, they had never been told much about what they were doing to him. He had always suspected that it was something he didn't want to know about though…

"Are you sure?"

"Don't tell anyone about this, including Shadi." He reiterated. "Can you hide the truth from him? I know about the Scales."

"Don't worry about that, if Shadi finds out, he finds out. He seems to think Malik is important in your fate for some reason. That's why he hasn't been kept away from you at school, even though mum wanted it." Odion explained, trying to reassure Marik but he didn't react.

"What am I going to do Odion? I have to see him tomorrow and I don't want to suddenly start splurging out loads of stuff."

"Don't worry, unless he does anything else I think nothing will happen. I get the feeling that you're supposed to confess and as long as you have, it'll be ok." He smiled down at Marik and he smiled back, sitting up properly.

"Thanks Odion."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

#So if you're lonely  
You know I'm here  
Waiting for you  
I'm just a cross-hair  
I'm just a shot away from you  
And if you leave here  
You leave me broken  
Shattered I lie  
I'm just a cross-hair  
I'm just a shot then we can die  
I know I won't be leaving here  
With you#

#I say don't you know  
You say you don't know  
I say take me out#

#I stay you don't show  
Don't move time is slow  
I say take me out#

#I say you don't know  
You say you don't know  
I say take me out#

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was September and they had all chosen their options for this year, apart from Seto because he was a year above them. Which meant, although they could now drop the subjects they hated, Marik had somehow ended up being in most of his lessons with Malik. He had never really got over what had happened in that alleyway and refused to walk home alone. Even being with Ishizu was better than seeing Malik again. But at the same time he felt drawn towards him, maybe because it was thanks to him Marik had found out the extent of what they had done to him during his therapy. He wanted nothing more than to break it, to prove to everyone that they couldn't control him as they wished. And if that meant spending more time with Malik then so be it.

That was probably why Malik was now around his house. Admittedly, it was actually because of school but that wasn't the point. They had ended up together for a presentation in history and Marik suggested it would be better if they did it after school. He didn't really want to go around Malik's though and from the way Malik talked, neither did he. So now they were both sitting on Marik's bed, their history folders in front of them as well as textbooks, trying to get this talk together on the CCC (**1**).

"So we have to do what is was and the advantages and disadvantages?" Malik said as he stared blankly at his also blank page.

"Yeah, luckily it doesn't have to be too long…" Marik said, looking in the index of his textbook. "We just have to do a handout. We could probably just type it up and print it off."

"Lazy teacher, it's just because he couldn't be bothered to do the lessons with us." Malik said, crossing his arms.

"That may be so but we still have to do it unfortunately. Should we print it off half and half?"

"Can't you do it all?" Malik said, suddenly looking pained.

"I suppose so but it's just easier. Why, do you not want to?"

"It means staying in my house longer than necessary." Malik replied, shuddering slightly.

"Malik, why don't you like your house?" Marik asked hesitantly, he knew Malik was very sensitive about this.

"Because I hate the people who live in it."

"Your mum and dad? What's so bad about them?" At least Malik had both of his parents…

"How do you think I got these?" Malik said, indicating the scars running down the lower half of his face. On instinct, Marik placed his hand on Malik's face, feeling them with his fingers. "It was my dad." He whispered, wondering why Marik was doing this. He also noticed Marik's hand was shaking slightly.

"Your dad? What did he do?"

"Nothing I really want to think about."

"Malik, you should tell someone about this!" Marik exclaimed, his hand still on his face.

"Well I told you…" He said quietly, now blushing at the contact between them. Until he felt Marik lean towards him and kiss him on the lips. Although surprised, Malik responded, closing his eyes.

"Malik…" He didn't respond, he didn't want to. Just feeling Marik this close to him… "No!" He opened his eyes and saw Marik was crying, trying to pull himself away. Malik duly let go and he scrambled away from him to the other end of the bed, breathing in deeply as he began to rock back and forth.

"What's wrong?" Silence. "Is it the therapy? It's made you like this, hasn't it?" Marik nodded his head, continuing to cry. "Marik, don't cry please. I didn't mean to hurt you…"

"I know, it's just so painful. They made it like this so…" Malik couldn't hear him anymore, although he was still talking. Well, his mouth was moving anyway…

"Here, at least blow your nose." Malik said weakly, holding out a tissue. He had never tried to comfort someone who was crying before. He had given up on his mother a long time ago and he just kicked anyone else who did.

"Thank you." Malik looked at him and saw long black marks running down his face. So they weren't natural?

"Marik, your…" He didn't know what to call them but he seemed to get the idea.

"They have? Damn." He got up from the bed and searched around a drawer until he found a bottle and some cotton wool. He proceeded to wipe them off and then turned to face Malik. His face looked strangely empty without them.

"What are they?"

"They're the marks that all the boys wear from where I lived in Egypt. It's tradition and just because I don't live there anymore, doesn't mean I can't do it still." He took out a tube of liquid eyeliner and replaced them quickly, like he had done it for years. Which he probably had. "I see it as my bit of rebellion against the system." He smiled and suddenly looked thoughtful. "I'll do some for you if you want." Malik was surprised by this but nodded his head.

"Ok then." He sat still as Marik put them on, flinching slightly at the coldness of the liquid. Marik sat back and admired his work.

"They quite suit you actually." He brought over a mirror from his desk and held it in front of Malik. He was right, they didn't look too bad. The only problem was that he looked like Marik now, which was slightly eerie.

"I look like you…" He commented, not sure why he had said it.

"You do a bit I suppose. Here, you'd better use this." He passed over the make up remover and Malik frowned. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea if someone found you with them on." Malik remained still and Marik sighed. "Fine then, I'll do it."

He wiped around his eyes carefully, making sure he didn't get anything in his eye. This stuff could be painful, as Marik had found out much to his cost on several occasions. Once that was done, he put everything away before sitting down again, this time a lot closer to Malik.

"Marik, do you like me?" Malik asked, looking at him in the eye. Marik tried to open his mouth but felt sick when he did so, so instead he nodded his head. "As a friend?"

#I have to break this, no matter what that means…# He thought and he shook his head.

"Show me how then." Malik whispered and Marik looked up at him, pushing down the sick feeling in his stomach as he once more kissed Malik on the lips, only this time with more force.

Malik was so shocked by this he felt himself falling backwards onto the bed and Marik now lying on top of him, his tongue trying to gain entrance. He seemed to know exactly what to do and Malik went along with it, forgetting where they were, what they were doing. Then he noticed the fact Marik was straddling his waist and putting a lot of pressure on his groin, causing him to gasp. He couldn't put off Marik's tongue anymore…

But then he stopped. Malik opened his eyes and saw that Marik now looked lifeless and then scared by what he had done. He jumped off Malik and stood up, backing away slowly.

"Odion, I've done it again, I was bad…" He said before running towards the door.

"Marik, no!" He had to stop Marik from leaving the room, if anyone found out… He didn't want to think about it. He stood in front of the door, blocking Marik's way.

"Move fool…" He said, pulling out the Millennium Rod. "I'm not afraid to use it…" All the colour had gone from him; he seemed grey, like ash.

"No Marik, you cannot tell anyone, we'll get into trouble."

"Marik, Malik, are you two in there?" It was Odion. Oh no, what was he going to do now? Marik heard the voice too.

"Odion, I did it again." The door opened and Odion entered, looking in confusion at what was happening. Instantly Marik dropped the Rod and ran into his brother's arms, talking as fast as he could. He listened and then turned to Malik.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. He just suddenly leapt at me and started kissing me. I didn't know what to do and then he suddenly stopped and started crying again." Malik explained, sitting back down on the bed. Marik looked around, he was hugging his brother tightly. Had he done it again?

"Odion, what's going on?" He tried to remember but only one image came to his mind: him with the Rod pointing at Malik. "I tried to hurt you…" He said, turning to him.

"What do you mean?"

"I used the Rod on you but…nothing happened. It wouldn't let me, it said that I shouldn't hurt my loved ones." He said and then frowned at his words. "But I don't love you…" He didn't realise what he had said but Malik expected something along those lines and didn't react.

"Then why did you kiss him?" Odion asked, and Marik blinked at what he had just said.

"I don't know, I'm so confused. I just wanted to…" He walked over to the bed and sat down beside Malik. "Do you understand?"

"I know you're confused. I was too until I decided to just see what happened if I went along with it…" He hesitantly placed a hand on Marik's face and he sighed, leaning into the touch. "We'll break what the therapy did to you ok?" Marik nodded his head and kissed Malik on the cheek before looking nervously at Odion.

"Odion, I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry, there's nothing I can do to stop you. Just don't get caught ok? I don't want to lose you." Marik nodded his head and stood up.

"Shall we go and get something to eat?" Marik suggested, almost seeming to forget what had happened. But then maybe he was just trying to keep his mind off it so he wouldn't do anything else.

"Okay, we'll be down in a second." Odion said and Marik walked out of the room, leaving just him and Malik. "Protect him okay Malik? He's been through a lot and it's going to take time to make things normal again."

"Why aren't you mad at us?" Malik asked, puzzled by the relaxed figure of Odion.

"Because I had a feeling this might happen. Shadi always said you were going to be important in Marik's life and maybe this is what he meant…" He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just being open minded but no one else will. You must do your best to protect him, he's still ignorant of what would happen to him if…"

"Don't worry, I won't let him get hurt. And I'll do my best to make him normal again. But I'm glad you're here for him too, you know him better than I do."

"We'll both protect him then…" Odion walked towards the door and Malik followed him down the stairs to find Marik.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Wow, it's nearly Christmas!" Téa said one lunchtime as they sat inside for once.

"I hate Christmas… It means that there's snow and it's bloody cold!" Marik commented as he blew his nose for the sixth time. "And I've got another cold too." He added, starting to mutter about his health.

"Ah, don't be so downbeat man, it's /Christmas! Warm fires, pudding, crackers-" Joey said, getting all misty eyed at the thought.

"Sherry, brandy, wine…" Malik continued, much to the disgruntlement of Yami.

"Which is not the point of Christmas." He pointed out but Malik merely shrugged his shoulders.

"You probably wouldn't get ill all the time if you drank more brandy Marik." Malik suggested.

"No, you'd just get liver failure instead…" Yami said scathingly.

"And I suppose you're going to say the point of Christmas is to do with God and Jesus etc etc." They had finally got Kaiba to come out of his cold shell and found out that he could be a nice person most of the time. He just had a grudge because he had to go to school in the first place, the despite the fact he was 'perfectly capable of running the company, I've been practically doing it for the last three years anyway' in his opinion. They just went along with it, not willing to point out that seventeen was a bit young for a CEO.

"What do you think God is?" Marik suddenly asked, causing Yami to look even more mortified than he already was.

"Should we even be having this discussion?" He said worriedly but everyone was ignoring him while Yugi rolled his eyes at his act. It was pretty good, if stupid.

"Don't you listen in C.R.E.? He's an all-powerful, all seeing-" Tristan started in a bored tone although he never listened to the teacher either.

"No, I don't mean that, I mean /what/ is He?" Marik said, trying to get the point across to the others.

"I don't think I'm getting you…" Joey said slowly, his forehead creased in concentration.

"Maybe He's a DJ." Duke suggested casually, trying to see what sort of reaction he could get out of Yami.

"A what!" Yami shrieked, a nervous twitch appearing in the corner of his eye.

"But if He's a DJ, what is life?" Ryou pointed out and the others fell into thought.

"It's a dance floor of course." Yugi's voice sounded pensive and the others nodded in agreement.

"And love is the rhythm!" Téa added cheerfully.

"Then what are /we?" They looked over at the voice and saw Kaiba with his arms crossed, looking very smug. They wouldn't be able to answer that, no one had.

"We're…" Marik said weakly, struggling to think of something, as everyone else was.

"The music." Malik suddenly said, looking at Marik as he did so, causing him to smile shyly. The others wondered for a moment, Malik never got involved in conversations about God and he had just said something quite profound.

"Very nice analogy but I think you've given Yami a heart attack." Bakura drawled, pointing at said person with his thumb. He sat very still, a slightly stunned expression on his face and Yugi grabbed his shoulder, shaking him.

"Yami, you don't have to look so shocked you know." He looked up and blinked but remained silent. "Anyway guys, I was wondering…what are we going to do about presents?"

"That's a point, I don't have a lot of money at the moment. I can't afford to give like ten presents." Joey said.

"Why don't we do Secret Santa? That way everyone will get one present they really want." Ryou suggested, causing a mixed reaction, mostly made up of 'what is that?'

"Sounds like a good idea Ryou." Yugi commented while some, particularly Marik, remained completely confused.

"Someone's going to have to explain…I never really understood Christmas."

"You don't understand Christmas?" Joey yelled, feeling sorry for him.

"Well we don't have it in Egypt and I still don't really celebrate it at home. Not the way others do anyway."

"So no pudding or turkey or tinsel?"

"Well I don't really like turkey…"

"That's not the point! I don't like Brussels sprouts but I still eat them."

"Well that just makes you stupid. As you were saying Ryou…" Bakura interrupted, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Oh right. Basically everyone puts their name on a piece of paper and then they're all mixed up. Then you pick one and you have to buy a present for that person."

"So where does the secret part come in?" Téa asked.

"Well on the piece of paper you put what you do or don't want and so you don't go around asking them what they want. That way they don't find out you've got them."

"I don't know what I want yet though."

"We can leave it for a couple of days and then do it if you want to." The others nodded in agreement at this.

"Great and my grandpa's letting me have a sleepover so we can give our presents to each other then." Yugi added.

"This Christmas is going to be interesting…" Seto muttered quietly while the others continued to talk.

* * *

Yeah, the end of another part thingy! More notes: 

(**1**) – CCC is the Civilian Conservation Corps. I won't go into details, suffice to say it was a body set up by FDR (Roosevelt, American President for those who don't know) to help recovery after the Depression. I don't know how much American history you actually study so I thought I'd better stick this note in here.

1. I'm aware that there are another three verses in 'You are my Sunshine' but they didn't really have much to do with the story as they're about Louisiana (no insult). And Yami's feelings have nothing to do with Louisiana…I think.

2. There were a couple of variations of 'Daisy' so I just picked one and only put in a little bit of it as it went on for another page and there were replies to the verses too.

3. I did not write the duel or the explanation of the cards, Luff, my sister did. Mainly because I don't understand any of it, I tried writing it myself and even got the colours of the cards wrong! D'oh!

Anyway, that's all the notes for now and I hope you can find the time to review. Until next time,

S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.


	5. Happy Times

I've noticed that although around 10 hits have been made to the last chapter, I have not had one review. But to be honest, I'm not especially sure I care anymore. So I'll continue posting, even though my writing skills are so appallingly bad and the plot is so dire I don't even get flamed for my turd like efforts.

**Disclaimer**: Lots of things I don't own today, including the usual Yu-Gi-Oh! For this chapter/episode/part I don't own "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Lord of the Rings", "The Exorcist", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Donnie Darko", "Pulp Fiction" and "The Thing". The songs I don't own are "This is Halloween" by Danny Elfman, "All the things she said" by t.A.T.u and "Strange and Beautiful" by Aqua Lung. Phew, what a lot!

**Warning**: There's going to be a small amount of sex stuff in here. Not sex but…oh you'll see. Also some swearing, but don't be surprised, considering what happens to Joey...poor old Joey.

**Note**: Thankies to my sister Luff who wrote the sex (sort of) bit. I would have written it but it was crap and it was all my idea, including what happens and the words, she just put it together. (Luff: WHAT! That's not right! She only wrote words for the last bit! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) But I did give her the rules, which she stuck to. (Luff: Hmm...)

"Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs/_blah_/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between Yugi and Yami. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

If you remember the end of the last chapter, Yugi mentioned something about a sleepover. So here it is, the sleepover. But it's not your average sleepover, in fact a couple of interesting things happen today...

This might be another long one unfortunately…

* * *

**Chapter four: Happy Times**

"Bakura, are you going to the sleepover?" Ryou asked as he sat on Bakura's lap at his house. He was happy; he had found someone who cared for him. So what if he was a boy too? He liked to be cuddled, if he was with a girl/_he_/ would have to initiate everything. It was nice to just sit there and talk.

"Yeah, you too?" He replied, kissing Ryou on the neck. It was nothing sexual, Ryou had laid the law on that early on in their relationship but didn't mind him doing that. Bakura couldn't resist anyway, his skin was so pale and pure…

"Hmm… Bakura, can I ask you something? I've been thinking about it for a long time now." Ryou said hesitantly and frowning at why he would do that, Bakura nodded his head. "I…I've been thinking about everyone else."

"What about them? Are you worried that they suspect something?" It had happened a few times before but Bakura had always managed to show Ryou that it was just him being paranoid.

"No, it's not that. I think…it's time we told them."

"Told them what?" Bakura asked suspiciously, although he had a feeling he knew what it was.

"The truth. About us." Ryou said quietly, taking Bakura's hand in his. "Please don't be mad…"

"Ryou, you know I can't get mad at you but…" This had never been brought up before, yet from the sounds of things, he /_had_/ been thinking about it for some time. How long had he been contemplating it though? "I don't think it's a good idea. They'll react really badly and I'm just not willing to let anything happen to you."

"I don't know Bakura, I don't think they'll react that badly. I mean when we found out about Marik, everyone seemed ok with it."

"Yes but that was only you Tristan, Joey, Yugi and Téa. What about Yami? And Kaiba? Their opinion on us wouldn't be much less than disgust." Bakura remembered telling Ryou about what had happened between him and Kaiba but Ryou always had the bad habit of forgetting at the most convenient times.

"Well the likelihood of Seto coming to the sleepover is quite small. I mean the last time he was at Yugi's house there was that whole thing with you and him." Ryou said rationally, seeming to be light hearted in the face of what was happening.

#_How nice of him to remember that little incident at last. I wonder what he'll say about it?_# Bakura hoped that Ryou would be put off doing anything if he remembered how Kaiba had been acting.

"Bakura? He won't be there will he?" Ryou said, trying to make his words sound more like a statement.

"I think he is coming. We can always find out from Yugi tomorrow though." Ryou remained silent to this, as though deep in thought. Then it came to him.

"I know what we can do. If it all goes wrong when we tell them my Millennium Ring can make them forget."

"You're going along the assumption that we're telling them Ryou." Bakura pointed out, although he got the feeling he wouldn't be able to dissuade him from his idea.

"But I want to tell them Bakura! Why can't we tell them? I've already said if it goes wrong I can use the Ring. They'll forget whatever I want them to."

"What about Marik and Yugi? Will they forget too?"

"As long as they don't realise I'm going to do it. If they do, they might be able to put up a protection barrier. I don't know how well they can use their Millennium Items though." Ryou explained and Bakura gave the idea some thought.

"How do you know you can make them forget? And the right amount too?" Bakura asked.

"I've done it before, several times." He replied casually.

"On who?"

"Just random people, if I've ever done anything embarrassing in front of them, I just make them forget."

"Isn't that abusing your power?" Bakura frowned, this sounded very unlike Ryou. It could be that he was stretching the truth of course...

"That was a long time ago, before I realised what I had. I haven't done it for a while now but it's one of those things that you can't forget once you've learnt it. Like riding a bike I suppose."

"/_Just_/ like riding a bike…" Bakura muttered. "Are you sure you want to tell them?"

"Yes, I don't like being so secretive around them."

"But even if we tell them, you know we'll still have to be secretive. There's a difference between telling your friends and the whole wide world." Although he tried to be serious, he saw Ryou's smile and had to laugh. "Ok, we'll tell them but only if you're sure you /_will_/ use the Ring on them if necessary."

"Thank you." Ryou whispered, turning so he was straddling Bakura's lap. "We'll tell them at the sleepover when they're hopefully all together."

"Yeah…" Ryou leant forward and sealed his lips over Bakura's in a kiss; Bakura marvelled at how soft they were, almost like feathers.

"Lie back…" Ryou said, pushing Bakura down on the bed. "I want to try something." Bakura stared at Ryou in confusion as he laid down on top of him, leaning forward again and capturing his lips in another kiss. This time he was able to react more readily, and tried to push his tongue into Ryou's mouth. Ryou opened his mouth slightly and allowed him access, deepening their kiss as Bakura's tongue circled and caressed the inside of his mouth. Ryou moaned softly before reluctantly pulling back, sitting up on Bakura's waist.

"What do you…?" Bakura watched as Ryou bent his head down, wondering what he was trying to do. He held his breath as he felt something warm, wet and soft insert itself into his navel, feeling something that he was sure he had never felt before. "Ryou…" He murmured as he felt his hands tickle around the waistline of his trousers.

"Just relax." Ryou whispered as he slowly unbuttoned them, trailing his finger down his groin as he then undid the zip.

"Have you ever done this before?" Bakura asked, slightly worried as the strange sensation he had felt before returned to him. Was it pleasure?

"No…but there's no harm in trying." Bakura's eyes widened.

"Uhh…I hate to be a spoil sport Ryou, but…do you even know what you're doing? I've never-" Bakura stopped, embarrassed.

"You've never done anything like this before?" Ryou smiled gently. "Well, we can learn together then…" Ryou started to pull down Bakura's trousers, unsure of what he was going to do once this was complete.

Ryou stared down at Bakura's boxers, not sure how he would react if he touched him there. He started as he felt Bakura take his hand, and watched as he led it towards his groin.

"What do you want me to do?" Ryou whispered, looking at him uncertainly.

"Well," Bakura whispered back, "you can start by taking them off, I suppose." Ryou blushed before obediently pulling them off, staring at his now exposed groin through half closed eyes.

"Uhh…" Ryou leant down hesitantly, before poking his tongue out and touching the tip of Bakura's penis with it. Bakura gasped, surprised by how much he liked the sensation. He sat up slightly as Ryou ran his tongue down the full length of it, groaning as softly as he could as he tried to control his emotions. Encouraged by this, Ryou continued with his pleasuring, but going further this time as he took the whole shaft in his mouth.

Bakura threw his head back and gasped, moving his hips slightly as Ryou continued to caress him with his tongue.

"Ryou…" Bakura groaned, worried that he might make too loud a noise.

"Hmm?" Ryou sat up quickly, only to yell as he toppled and fell backwards off the bed.

"Ryou…" Bakura said more desperately this time, crawling urgently after him onto the floor. He didn't know why, but he felt anxious for Ryou to continue.

As soon as Bakura was on the floor, Ryou leapt on him and started to kiss him fervently; soon they were rolling around on the floor, seeming to brand each other with their touches. When they were finally still, Bakura was lying underneath Ryou, who was bending down at Bakura's groin. He began to lick at his still hardened member, causing him to shudder with delight. He kept quiet as Ryou continued his 'treatment', instead expressing his pleasure in his facial movements; his eyes were closed, and his mouth was wide, as if he were trying to swallow something that was too big for it. Ryou noticed this and smiled to himself, rubbing his tongue as hard as he could against the erection in his mouth. He could feel the shivers of pleasure run down Bakura's body more frequently, his hips arching underneath him.

"Please…I don't want this to stop…" Bakura moaned as he pushed himself further into Ryou's mouth. Despite his pleading, Ryou slowed down to a torturous pace, running his tongue along Bakura's length.

"Beg for it if you want it so much…" Ryou whispered, pausing in his actions. Bakura gasped in distress, wriggling under Ryou to make him continue.

"Ryou…please…don't stop…" Bakura's words grew louder as Ryou slowed his actions further, enjoying the fact that he had managed to bring Bakura to his knees so easily…

"I didn't hear you, Bakura…" He whispered huskily, running his finger down Bakura's member.

"Ryou, please!" He groaned, worried that Ryou's excessive torturing was going to result in him screaming…which was not good on their part.

"Good boy…" Ryou bent low and took the shaft in his mouth once more, nipping and sucking it to get a satisfying reaction.

"Ohhh…Ryou…" Tears stung his eyes as he felt his release nearing; he had never known anything like this before. He moaned profusely, thrusting himself into Ryou's mouth as he pleaded for more.

With one final hard suck, Bakura released with a strangled moan into Ryou's mouth, before collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion. Ryou grimaced as he swallowed the cum, almost feeling the need to throw it back up again.

"Ryou, why did you do that?" Bakura asked, gasping slightly as he looked at Ryou with curiosity.

"Because I wanted to. I hope you liked it." Ryou said softly, climbing on top of him and kissing him gently.

"Ryou I…" Bakura whispered, a little speechless from the whole event.

"Shhh… Just don't expect me to do it again any time soon, it tastes disgusting." Ryou whispered, pulling a face to show his distaste. He smiled gently as he kissed Bakura's cheek.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Bakura asked with concern, gently rubbing Ryou's face.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"As long as you're sure." Ryou nodded, cuddling up closer to Bakura's chest.

"I love you."

"Love you too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I've got lots of food for everyone, videos and games too." Yugi said cheerfully as the group were sitting up in his bedroom. "We can eat first or watch a video…"

"What do you have?" Joey asked.

"Well I've got…" Yugi wandered over to the pile and looked through them. "'The Nightmare Before Christmas', 'Lord of the Rings', 'The Exorcist'-"

"How the hell did you get 'The Exorcist'? That's an eighteen!" Malik yelled, grabbing the box from Yugi, just to make sure it was real.

"My grandpa got it for me only on the condition that no one gets nightmares from it and that you don't tell your parents you watched it." Yugi explained, smiling when he saw the huge grin on Malik's face.

"Hell, I can do that…" He said happily. "Well this gets my vote!"

"Don't you have anything…not so scary?" Ryou said gingerly, eyes widening at the things he had heard about the film.

"'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Donnie Darko'…" He continued through the boxes. "'Pulp Fiction', 'The Thing'…"

"I like the look of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'." Marik said, looking slyly at Yami.

"Yeah, we should watch that, seeing as it's Christmas." Tristan added.

"This one it is then." Yugi said. "Shall we get some food first though?"

"Yeah, food!" This unsurprisingly came from Joey and Yugi rolled his eyes before standing up.

"Seeing as you're so eager, you can help me bring it all up."

"What? That means moving!"

"Well duh Joey. Come on, or you'll starve." Yugi pulled Joey up, much to his disgruntlement.

"Now surely you wouldn't let me starve…" He said as he followed Yugi out of the room.

"If that meant you not eating all of the food then yes Joey." Yugi's voice drifted up the stairs and the others laughed.

Soon they were back with what seemed like a week's supply of food and they staggered into the room, practically throwing everything onto the floor. Well Joey did anyway. Luckily he had nothing particularly breakable, Yugi hadn't trusted him with the pizzas or popcorn. Everyone grabbed what they wanted and when they were ready, Yugi put the video in and pressed play.

As the credits for the studios rolled past the screen, lilting strings softly appeared in the background as a picture of a clearing seen from the top faded into view. The camera floated downwards and at the bases of the trees you could see various pictures. Just as you could clearly make out what they were though, the music was interrupted by a voice.

#'Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems  
In a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams  
For the story that you are about to be told  
Took place in the holiday worlds of old.  
Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from.  
If you haven't, I'd say it was time you begun!#

The camera sat in front of a tree with a pumpkin etched into the tree before the nose turned and the door swung open to show black. In the distance, an orange object came closer to the screen, which soon turned out to be pumpkin and the light fell upon it, showing it in its full view: a scarecrow with the sign 'Halloween Town' proudly sat upon its head. Leaves whipped cross the screen as the scarecrow turned, its bony arm pointing the viewer onwards into more darkness. As the leaves continued to skim around, a door suddenly appeared and opened to the sound of people, or at least assumed to be people, singing.

#Boys and girls of every age  
Wouldn't you like to see something strange  
Come with us and you will see  
This our town of Halloween#

#This is Halloween  
This is Halloween  
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night  
This is Halloween  
Everybody make a scene  
Trick-or-treat till the neighbour's gonna die of fright  
It's our town  
Everybody scream  
In this town of Halloween#

#I am the one hiding under your bed  
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red  
I am the one hiding under your stairs  
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair#

#This is Halloween  
This is Halloween  
Halloween, Halloween  
Halloween, Halloween#

#In this town we call home  
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song#

#In this town  
Don't we love it now  
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise  
'Round that corner, man  
Hiding in the trash can  
Something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll  
Scream#

#This is Halloween  
Red and black  
And slimy green  
Aren't you scared  
Well that's just fine#

#Say it once, say it twice  
Take a chance and roll the dice  
Ride with the moon in the dead of night  
Everybody scream  
Everybody scream  
In our town of Halloween#

#I am the clown with the tear-away face  
Here in a flash and gone without a trace#

The next line was drowned out as Ryou shrieked and grabbed onto Bakura, burying his face in his hair. He was shaking badly and Bakura put his arms around him, trying to calm him down.

"Shush Ryou…don't worry, the clown's gone now." He had forgotten about Ryou's extreme fear of clowns, which was possibly worse than his fear of the dark. The others had of course noticed this and Yugi stopped the video as they turned to face them.

"Ryou, Bakura, what's going on?" Yugi quietly asked and they suddenly realised what they were doing.

"Well, it wasn't exactly supposed to happen like this…" Bakura muttered, making Ryou smile as they kissed each other. They eventually broke apart and Ryou looked up at Bakura.

"How are they reacting?"

"Silently." Ryou turned around so he could see them and Bakura wrapped his arms around him protectively, pulling them closer together.

No one was quite sure what to say, either that or they didn't want to break the spell by speaking. Most of them didn't express any anger though, they just looked surprised. They probably wondered if Ryou was brave enough to be with Bakura. Either that or they wondered how Bakura managed to be so caring about someone. Eventually Bakura felt he had to say something, the silence was starting to scare him. That and the glint in Kaiba's eyes.

"Well what are you going to do now Kaiba?" He said, staring straight at him as he stared back while Ryou looked from one to the other.

"Bakura, what do you mean?" Ryou asked, his voice a lot higher than usual as he twisted to look at him properly.

"He said if he ever found out, he'd take me away…" Bakura explained, still staring at Seto.

"Bakura, don't go." Ryou's eyes started to water as he hugged him, his grip tight and unrelenting. "Please…"

"It's all up to him now." He merely said, not responding to the hug.

"Seto, don't you dare!" Téa chided, her eyes glowing with a fire that only a woman could achieve when angry. (Luff: Yeah! Go Téa!)

"Fine then, whatever." Although he didn't like to admit it, Seto had always been slightly scared of women. Probably because of their mood swings.

Bakura looked over at the only other person who would have a fit about this: Yami. But surprisingly, he wasn't looking at them; he was looking at Yugi instead. He was trying to decide something, could it have been that Bakura's suspicions about his depression was right?

"Yugi…" He whispered and they looked at each other, with what Bakura quickly recognised as love. That had been a bit of a sticky subject with him and Ryou, he never responded to that word at the beginning. But now things were different and they were a lot closer because of it. He realised that Yugi and Yami were now hugging each other although they hadn't kissed, they seemed content holding each other. Somehow he had always imagined it would be like that.

But the biggest surprise came when they heard a crash and became conscious of the fact that Malik was on top of Marik, kissing him for dear life. Hadn't Marik been in therapy because of this though? How had Malik managed to persuade him?

"Well well well, you all seem to be getting on like a house on fire." Duke suddenly said, causing Malik and Marik to stop and blush as they sat up. "And how long have you been hiding this?" He asked innocently, eyebrow raised.

"Three months."

"Nearly six."

"And you, Bakura and Ryou?" Bakura frowned, he wasn't actually sure, it had seemed so long. Ryou giggled when he realised this and hit Bakura playfully on the arm.

"Trust you to forget! It's been just over nine months." Ryou answered, causing Téa to gasp.

"Really? And no one ever suspected a thing!" Joey sighed loudly and they all looked at him strangely.

"It appears to be that I'm the only straight one here…" He lamented, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, what about us?" Tristan pointed out.

"Well you and Duke are close…"

"Not like that…" Duke explained, although he looked away from Tristan as he said this. "Tristan, can we talk?" He frowned and nodded his head, standing up and following Duke into the en suite bathroom where they locked the door.

xxxxxx

"Duke, why…" Tristan wasn't exactly sure what to say as he sat down on the lid of the toilet. He knew why they were here but couldn't think of a reason why it should have been brought up.

"I just want to know." Duke replied, refusing to look at him.

"Do /_you_/ like me in…that way then?"

"I don't know, I just want to find out." He mumbled, his posture becoming awkward.

"How?" Although Tristan constantly acted dumb he was quite intelligent but this was really messing his brain cells up. He had always thought they were friends and nothing more.

"Can I kiss you please?" Now that was unexpected. Duke turned around to face Tristan and he could see the glow of embarrassment on his face, even in the gloom.

"Why?"

"Just so I know what it's like." He replied hesitantly. "I'm sorry, I know you don't want to."

"Just one? And I can stop it as soon as I want to?" He saw Duke look up in surprise. Tristan couldn't really see the harm in one kiss; after all, as Joey said, they were good friends.

"Yes." Duke stood in front of him, not sure how to do this and so Tristan pulled him down so they were both sitting on the toilet, although Duke wasn't in his lap. That would have been too close for comfort.

Their lips came together and although Tristan responded to Duke's actions, his mind was wandering elsewhere.

#_Is this it? And they make such a big fuss about your first kiss… It's nice but nothing amazing._# He thought as he pulled away. "I'm sorry Duke but I just don't feel that way about you." He saw Duke's eyes flash with disappointment but soon he was smiling again.

"I know, I just wanted to see. I'm not sure how I feel… I feel a great fondness for you." He said, laughing at the stupidity of his words.

"I think it's the fact we're friends. I don't know about you but I think we're really close." He paused as Duke stood up. "Can we still be friends?"

"Of course, we're partners in crime!" Duke said and they high fived each other. "I wonder if anything's happened to the others… Maybe Joey and Kaiba have got together."

"Yeah right. I think Joey would rather kill himself than be with Seto, you know what they're like. Always throwing insults if not punches." Tristan pointed out as they left the bathroom, only to find a shocked room and one near traumatised looking Joey.

xxxxxx

"Well you know what's going to happen now…" Joey commented gloomily as he saw Duke and Tristan leave the room. In a way he was jealous of Duke, Tristan had always been /_his_/ best friend and now they didn't spend that much time together. At least he had Yugi, or so he thought, until he found out about him and Yami. Now he had no one.

"Well Seto's still here…" Yugi said, he knew what Joey was thinking and he felt sorry for him.

"Yeah, well he's barely human so he doesn't count." He didn't notice the look of hurt which appeared on Seto's face although everyone else did. Joey was never usually like this, he just yelled a lot and waved his arms around.

"I'm sorry you see me like that Joey." Seto said sadly, as he rummaged around in his bag. He took out a card and a square shaped present before handing it to Joey. "Here, I got you in the Secret Santa. I hope it's the right one, it took me ages to find."

Joey looked up at the package in his hand and was surprised when he saw Seto so close to him but even more so when he then kissed him on the cheek. He frowned, when did he…? He never got the chance to find the answer his question though as Seto suddenly stood up and spinning on his heel, walked out of the room.

"Wait Seto, don't go!" Yugi shouted as he ran after him. He saw Seto at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at him. "You can't just kiss him and then leave/_Talk_/ to him." Yugi said desperately, he wanted Joey to be happy…

"It's up to him now, I've said everything I wanted to say." He replied sadly before walking out of the house, the door closing quietly behind him.

Yugi sighed in frustration at the way /_some_/ people insisted on acting, why couldn't they just get on with it, instead of dancing around each other? That's what he had to do with Yami; he was so annoyed when he found out how long Yami had been pining after him. If he had just said his feelings out loud straight away, he wouldn't have irritated everyone so much with his depression. Oh well, there wasn't much he could do about it and he walked back into the room to see Joey sitting there, present still in hand, with a slightly frightened look on his face.

Just then, Duke and Tristan came out of the bathroom, smiling and laughing, the kiss seemingly forgotten. But they stopped when they heard and /_saw_/ the silence in the room.

"What happened?" Duke asked worriedly.

"Seto just kissed Joey." Téa replied, causing Duke and Tristan to look at each other. Had they jinxed Joey by talking about it?

"What am I going to do?" Joey mumbled, finally placing the present on the floor as his head flopped forward in submission.

"Don't worry about it for now, we'll talk later on." Yugi said, smiling kindly at him and Joey instantly brightened.

"Yeah, let's eat!" Yugi laughed, amazed at how optimistic Joey could be in every situation. The others looked concerned for a moment but when they realised that Joey was being sincere, they cheered up too.

"Do you still want to watch the film?" He asked everyone, although the question was mainly aimed at Ryou. He didn't want to scare him again.

"Yeah, Bakura will protect me." He said seriously and everyone made 'ah' noises, causing them to blush before Yugi diverted their attention by starting the film up again. "You will protect me, won't you Kura?"

#_Kura? That's new._# He smiled, it wasn't that bad. "Of course, I'll always be here for you…" He said, cuddling Ryou close to him.

xxxxxx

"God, what's the time someone?" Tristan said, yawning loudly as they finished 'The Exorcist', after much pestering from Malik. Yugi and Ryou had spent most of the film hiding in their lovers' arms while Téa had refused to watch it and went to sleep instead.

"One in the morning." Yami said, looking at his watch.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to sleep." And with that Tristan fell over asleep in his sleeping bag. Luckily they had already put their pyjamas on.

"Yeah me too…" Yugi said and he kissed Yami on the cheek before also lying down. "Whoever's last, could they turn out the light please?" He mumbled.

Bakura looked around and noticed that Duke and Joey had fallen asleep already, probably while the film was still on. How they had managed that, he wasn't sure, it was quite a loud one.

"Well I don't want to get up again so night." Yami said, smiling as he stroked Yugi's face before lying down next to him. They had decided they could risk being together for one night and Marik and Malik were taking full advantage of it, lying on top of each other in the same sleeping bag although they weren't doing anything too noisy.

"I suppose we'd better go too Ryou." Bakura said as he stood up to turn the light off.

"Kura, I don't want the light off." Ryou said and Bakura suddenly remembered that they had just seen a scary film and he didn't like the dark in the first place.

"Come on, I'll be here." To show him what he meant, he undid his sleeping bag fully before doing the same with Ryou's. Somehow he didn't want to try the Marik and Malik approach, he'd probably crush Ryou. "We'll lie on mine and use yours as a blanket."

"Ok." He said as he grabbed his pillow and made himself comfortable. Bakura turned the light off and hurried back, hearing Ryou whimper quietly. "Kura, I'm scared."

"Don't worry, I'm here now." He took his sleeping bag and threw it on top of them, pulling Ryou into his arms. "I'll stop them from hurting you."

"Ok Kura, love you." He whispered sleepily as he shifted slightly to make himself more comfortable, leaning his head on Bakura's chest.

"Love you too." He replied, closing his eyes.

xxxxxx

Malik opened his eyes, hearing the bedroom door open and saw a tall shadow standing at the doorway. At least it wasn't Yugi's grandpa. He and Marik were in a rather awkward position at the moment although he had half slid off him because he'd left the sleeping bag open in case Marik got uncomfortable. He sat up properly, careful not to wake him and he looked at the shadow again. It was Kaiba.

"What are you doing back here?" He asked quietly, although he was sure everyone else was asleep.

"I need to get my stuff, it was rude of me to leave it here." He replied, making in the direction of where he had been sitting.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure Yugi doesn't mind keeping it for now." Malik said quickly, worried he might wake someone up. "And anyway, we'll send Joey over to drop it off."

"What?" He was surprised at Malik's bluntness.

"It's really obvious you want him a lot." He said, whether as an explanation though, Seto wasn't sure.

"So what if I do? Nothing's going to happen." He snapped, annoyed that Malik had brought the subject up.

"Don't be like that, what do you think we all thought right at the beginning?" He snapped, pointing to Yami and Bakura. "We thought that too but we were wrong."

"Yes, but this is Joey we're talking about."

"Look, I'll see if I can get Yugi, Ryou and Marik to talk to him." He suggested, hoping to make him feel happier. "I think he might like you, even though he tried to hide it. Just don't give up, okay?"

"Okay." He left the room quickly and Malik rested his head back down on the pillow. Boy, he was going to have a headache in the morning, he hadn't got enough sleep.

Yugi's eyes opened a few seconds later and he smiled to himself, a plan forming in his head. He was going to get them together.

#_I'll ask Ryou and Marik to stay over another night and we're going to make Joey realise his feelings._# Happy with his plan, Yugi closed his eyes again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was nearly New Year's Eve and Joey was walking along a road, bag in one hand while he listened to the CD Kaiba had got for him. Why had he been dumped with the job of giving Kaiba his stuff back? He knew it was part of the plan but it was annoying.

#_At least I have an excuse for being at his house I suppose._# He thought, although this didn't cheer him up. He then realised the track he was listening to and the words they were singing.

#I'm in serious shit, I feel totally lost  
If I'm asking for help it's only because  
Being with you has opened my eyes  
Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise?#

#I keep asking myself, wondering how  
I keep closing my eyes but I can't block you out  
Wanna fly to a place where it's just you and me  
Nobody else so we can be free#

God, he hated this song. The rest of the album was fine but this song…the words didn't really help his situation either. He frowned, stabbing the forward button. Luckily the next track was better, if still a bit average, allowing him to think about what had happened recently.

After the kiss, Yugi arranged for himself, Ryou and Marik to stay a bit longer but Marik couldn't make it, seeing as it was his birthday and Malik had something planned for him. All Joey knew was that it involved chocolate sauce, a die and a whole lot of strawberries. He didn't really want to think about the sorts of activities you could get up to with those things, especially as it was Marik and Malik he was talking about. All Marik could do was sit there and grin when they had finally met up after Christmas. Yugi and Ryou had given each other knowing smiles but Joey just wanted to be sick. If being with Kaiba meant chocolate sauce then he'd rather pass.

#_Wait, I'm not even sure I want to be with him yet._# The others had spent ages persuading him that they should get together but in the end had to admit defeat and merely told him to follow his heart. Unfortunately, all his heart would say at the moment was THUMP THUMP THUMP, going on forever and ever until he died. Maybe it was his imagination but it did seem to get slightly faster whenever he thought about Kaiba, but maybe that was because he was dealing with someone way out of his league, even if Joey didn't act like it in day to day life. #_I mean, I'm walking to someone's house, no /mansion, and this someone is basically the CEO of the company, even if it isn't official. It will be in a year's time or so. Why am I being so crazy?_# He sighed, he knew the answer to that one. He wanted his question answered. #_When did things change? As far as I knew, Kaiba thinks I'm an idiot. And now…_#

By now he was reaching the part of Domino where the houses all had at least two cars in the driveway, if they didn't have garages instead. They also had bushes that were cut into strange shapes, like perfect rectangles and circles. Why would someone want to do that to a bush, what was wrong with its natural shape? These houses also had more than three windows at the front and the doors were doubled too. Joey was nervous; he had never even spent any time in this area. The biggest house he had ever seen was Marik's and that was understandable, because of his family's status. He had lived in a semi detached all of his life, quite a small one at that. And now he was going to possibly one of the richest households in the whole area, home of KaibaCorp.

Of course, Joey now knew about the problems they were having and who had caused them. Bakura. He had to laugh when Ryou told him, even though he made them promise not to tell anyone else. It was nice to know that not everything in Kaiba's life was perfect, that someone could still get up his nose. Whether Kaiba knew though, no one was sure, not even Ryou. Apparently Bakura didn't like talking about it. Oh well, it would be just funnier if Kaiba knew but couldn't do anything about it because he was too good.

There it was. The Kaiba mansion. And it was /_huge_/. No, huge was an understatement. It was /_gargantuan_/. Now if only the others could have heard that, they would have been amazed. Joey Wheeler knew a word with more than two syllables. But that wasn't the point. His eyes widened when he saw the security, the guards and the metal gate with spikes on top of it so you would slip and impale yourself on them. Joey had a very small amount of knowledge on breaking into houses and knew /_this_/ one wouldn't be an option. Which was probably why everything was there.

Ah, an intercom. He may as well start with that and he walked up to it, frowning when he reached it. This one wasn't like normal intercoms, they had only one button. This must have had at least six. At least they had labels beside them. Hmm, Kaiba's office or bedroom wasn't an option so the next best thing would be the entrance hall. So he pressed it, starting to just talk, hoping that someone was listening.

"Hello, is anyone in there? HELLO?" He yelled, getting some odd looks from the guards. "Why is no one answering me?"

"Who is this and what do you want?" The voice sounded little and squeaky. No wait, that was the person. Kaiba had a little brother?

"This is Joey and I want to speak to Seto." He replied, trying not to shout. There was no point in pissing his relatives off. "Are you his brother?"

"Yes, my name is Mokuba but that isn't the point. Seto said specifically that no one was to interrupt him, he's working." He said calmly. Mokuba? Joey vaguely remembered Kaiba mentioning him and he was ten. Oh dear, Joey didn't like little people, they were so stubborn.

"Please, this is really important! Just tell him I'm here!"

"No, I'm not getting my head bitten off for a stranger."

"I'm not a stranger, I'm a friend!" There was silence on the other end so Joey did what he did best: shout at the top of his voice. "KAIBA, LET ME IN RIGHT NOW! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME SO DON'T TRY AND IGNORE ME! KAIBA!"

"If you carry on like that you'll be escorted away from the premises-"

"I'm not on the premises so there's nothing to escort me from." Joey said, smiling at his genius. "KAIBA, IF YOU CONTINUE IGNORING ME I'LL TAKE YOUR STUFF AWAY AND DISPLAY IT AT SCHOOL! I'M SURE EVERYONE WILL WANT TO SEE YOUR TEDDY BEAR UNDERWEAR!"

"What did you just say?" Mokuba asked, sounding like he was either appalled or he was going to burst into hysterics soon.

"THAT'S RIGHT KAIBA I KNOW ALL OF YOUR LITTLE SECRETS! ABOUT THE TEDDY BEARS AND THE RED BOWS THEY'VE GOT ON!"

"You looked at his underwear?"

"Well I had to, he left his stuff all over Yugi's bedroom. I wasn't brave enough to touch them; I used a wooden spatula and flicked them back into the bag. Destroyed it afterwards of course for health and safety reasons." All of this was a lie of course but Joey found it quite amusing.

"Are you saying my brother's dirty?" Mokuba was definitely outraged now.

"Well if he never comes out of his office then yes, he is. Prove to me he's not dirty by getting him out here."

"No way, I already told you he's not coming out." He stopped and Joey heard a faint voice in the background. It sounded quite harsh although it seemed to have softened itself on purpose because Mokuba was there.

"Who is it Mokuba? I thought I told you to make sure no one interrupts me." Yep, it was Kaiba.

"I told him that Seto but he wouldn't listen to me-"

"KAIBA, YOU MAY BE ONE OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE OF DOMINO BUT THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE EXCUSE OF DISOBEYING COMMON COURTESY BY REFUSING TO ANSWER VISITORS' REQUESTS TO SEE YOU. NOW LET ME IN!"

"Now how did I know that was you Wheeler? Oh yeah, the cheese grating, yappy voice. What do you want?" Well if Kaiba was trying to prove his feelings for him, he wasn't doing very well at the moment.

"I have your stuff and just walked all the way over here to give it back to you."

"Why didn't you just drop it off?"

"Because unlike you, most people cannot get lifts everywhere. My dad works for a living, he doesn't have time to chauffer me!" Joey snapped, Kaiba's attitude was really starting to annoy him now.

"And you couldn't wait until next term?" Kaiba meanwhile seemed to be enjoying the fact that Joey was gradually getting more and more wound up.

"No, having it made me gag because it's got your stench all over it."

"At least I don't shed hair."

"Fine then!" Joey yelled. "I'll just throw your stuff over the gate and you can get one of your /_servants_/ to pick it up for you. I don't care." He walked to the front of the gate and lobbed the bag over, smiling grimly when he saw it sail over and land a few feet away. At least P.E. came in useful for something.

Joey started to walk away, stuffing the headphones back into his ears again and sighed, this was another song that was definitely /_not_/ right for the situation he was in.

#I've been, watching your world from afar  
I've been, trying to be where you are  
And I've been, secretly falling apart  
I'll see  
To me, you're strange and you're beautiful  
You'd be, so perfect with me  
But you just, can't see  
You turn every head but you don't see me#

#I'll put a spell on you  
You fall asleep and  
I'll put a spell on you  
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see  
And you realise that you love me#

The song was abruptly stopped though when he felt someone yank out one of the earpieces, causing him to yelp in pain. That hurt!

"If you continue listening to your music at that volume, you'll go deaf." God, it was Kaiba /_again_/. Why did he never go away?

"If it meant never hearing /_your_/ voice again then that's no bad thing." He snapped back, continuing to walk on.

"Now don't be ridiculous." He paused, hoping to get a response but none came out. "Why do you think I would want to talk to you?" Again there was silence. He wasn't used to this, usually Joey shouted and yelled if he insulted him. And now…

"You're doing it at the moment." Damn, maybe he wasn't that dumb.

"Because we need to have a little chat."

"Well I don't feel like having 'a little chat'. I've got better things to do than waste my time on you."

"When I say we're going to talk, I mean it." Kaiba said, his voice low and angry. He grabbed Joey's arm and started to walk back to his house, Joey dragging behind him.

"Get off me you bastard! We have nothing to talk about!" He pulled his arm but Kaiba merely squeezed tighter, causing him to gasp in pain. And it must have been bad, Joey could usually take most pain without saying anything about it but Kaiba /_had_/ just grabbed the arm he had broken two and a half months ago and he hadn't been out of the cast for very long.

"Aw, can't Wheeler take a little pressure?"

"In case you haven't noticed you're currently gripping me where I broke the bone so it's just a little bit painful." Despite his explanation, Kaiba's grip still remained hard.

"Well it wouldn't hurt if I didn't have to resort to such measures."

"Well why don't you just let go then?" Although Joey said this coldly, his arm was really starting to hurt. The doctor had told him not to put any pressure on his arm for at least two weeks after the cast came off and now he knew why.

"Fine then." Joey was surprised when he said this and Kaiba let go of his arm, stopping for a moment. Joey used this opportunity to do only one thing: run.

He pelted full speed down the road, not helped by the CD player in his pocket so he held it in his hand instead, continuing to run along the path. He could hear footsteps behind him though; Kaiba wasn't giving up without a fight. And Joey may have been one of the best when it came to anything sporty, but Kaiba had both a height advantage /_and_/ situation advantage. He wasn't carrying anything and he was doing the chasing, always the better position to be in. As Joey soon realised when he felt a pair of arms snake around his waist and lift him up into the air.

"Naughty puppy, running away. I'll have to carry you now." Kaiba flung Joey over his shoulder and started walking back down the road.

"Kaiba, get the fuck off me! You have absolutely no right to do this to me!" His pride was taking a serious denting, this was probably one of the most humiliating things that had ever happened to him, even worse than the time he was trying to impress Yugi and Tristan with his skateboarding tricks and ended up falling head over heels down the steps. And then to top things off, he discovered he had broken his ankle. He had only been twelve…

"I gave you the chance to walk without assistance and you decide to run away. Therefore you cannot be trusted to do something right yourself so I'm doing it for you instead."

"Well thank you kindly." Joey said witheringly.

"What did you say?" Joey decided to annoy him by refusing to answer this question, instead starting to hum a song to himself. That got to Kaiba. "And will you stop doing that? It is possibly one of the most irritating things ever."

"So Kaiba has a little weakness then? I'm glad to hear it." Kaiba frowned, suddenly realising what he had said as Joey started to hum louder, then sing. "The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round! The wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long!" Then it was the wipers, then the people and then the doors. He was just starting the verse about the brakes when Kaiba had had enough.

"Wheeler if you don't shut up right now I'll break both of your legs. Don't think I'm joking, I know exactly where the weak points are." He threatened and so Joey did as he said, although he continued to hum quietly, this time 'Old Macdonald had a farm'. "Wheeler…" Kaiba growled and Joey sighed before shutting up. So instead he started swinging his legs but because he was on Kaiba's shoulder, he ended up hitting him in the stomach.

Soon they were back at the mansion and the gates opened to let them through as a guard walked up to them.

"We retrieved the object Mr Kaiba and it is now sitting outside your quarters." He said and Kaiba nodded in acknowledgement before continuing to the house.

"Ooh /_Mr_/ Kaiba eh? And /_object_? What's wrong with calling it a bag? You need to give them some lessons in speaking like normal people." Joey suggested in a loud voice.

"They have something called respect, which I doubt you're familiar with. And if talking normal meant speaking like you then I'd rather not." He responded, shifting Joey slightly on his shoulder.

"I know what respect is! I respect loads of people, you're just not one of them. I'd only respect you if you dropped your attitude problem but I don't think scientists have found a way to do whole brain transplants yet."

"Harsh Wheeler." Joey frowned, was he being sarcastic or not? It was so hard to tell…

"Ow!" It appeared that they were now going up a set of stairs and Joey was being badly jolted. He was going to have a lot of bruising by the time he was allowed back on the ground. But what if that never happened? What if he was stuck up here for the rest of his life? That wasn't worth thinking about…

He was finally allowed down when they entered a large room, containing mainly a bed and lots of plush furnishing. Joey was on his feet for roughly a second before he fell over, completely unstable after what had happened.

"Whoa, are you ok?" Kaiba whispered, putting his arm around Joey and helping him to sit up.

"Pardon?"

"I asked if you were ok." He repeated, sitting down on the floor next to him.

"I know that but did I just hear concern in your voice? I didn't think you had any emotions in that block of stone known as your body." He smiled but this disappeared when he saw the sadness in Kaiba's eyes.

"There's so much you don't know about me…"

"Because you act like a complete jerk the whole time! My opinion of you has developed as a result of you acting the way you have. That is /_not_/ my fault, so don't give me all that 'you don't know me' crap because I just don't buy it." He replied, crossing his arms.

"Then maybe we need to change this opinion you have of me." He said, looking down at the carpet. Was he being coy? No, he didn't know the meaning of the word.

"As I said, they haven't invented whole brain transplants yet."

"Will you stop joking please? Just be serious for a moment." Joey looked at Kaiba, wondering why this was so important to him.

"Why? Don't tell me you can prove to me you're a nice person, right here, right now?"

"If you give me the chance, then yes."

"Ok then." He remained still as Kaiba placed his hand on his face, stroking his cheek gently before leaning in to kiss him. He paused, waiting for a reaction but Joey didn't move so he closed the remaining space between them, putting his arms around him.

"Kaiba…" Joey gasped, leaning into the touch.

"Please, don't call me that. My name is Seto." He breathed, closing his eyes.

"Seto…why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this?" Joey pulled away and looked up at Seto. "You think I'm an idiot, you call me loads of names! I don't believe you feel like that about me."

"I didn't want to either. I've been trying to deny this for so long and it just didn't work so I've accepted it." He shrugged his shoulders. "Can you?"

"I don't know, it doesn't sound real. Do you like me that much you're willing to risk your safety in order to let me know?"

"You forget I'm the head of a security company. They won't catch us."

"There is no /_us_/ at the moment ok?" Joey reminded him. "And anyway, your system's been hacked in to. The council could easily do the same."

"The council have little intelligence on computer matters, unlike Bakura. Also, he has never hacked onto anything important in the network; he just likes to mess around with cameras and files. I've given up on trying to catch him, there's very little point. At least he's highlighting out weaknesses in my system."

#_Wow, he doesn't seem bothered by it at all… But is it an act?_# He shook his head, trying to get rid of his thoughts. Now wasn't the time to go into his own little world. "You still haven't explained the reason for the insults."

"I…don't know why I did it. I think I was angry with you; you were making me think things I shouldn't have done. Can you accept my apology?"

"Hmm, I don't know…" He said in mock seriousness before leaning in and kissing Seto, much to his surprise. "You'll have to prove yourself to me."

"I think I could do that." He picked Joey up and placed him on the bed. "I think I can show how much I…" His voice died away as they continued to kiss, now fully responding to each other's movements.

* * *

The ending was abrupt as usual but that's because I've had to cut this part into two as well. Does anyone else write chapters that are this long? Nope, I really think I am the only one. So ignoring the ending, here are the extra notes: 

1. Sorry about doing just the words in the film but it was only a little bit and anyway, it's a brilliant film, try and watch it if you can. It's only just over an hour long so it's not another 'Lord of the Rings'.

2. Too many songs I bet you're going to put in your reviews (#nudge, nudge, wink, wink#) and I realise that but it's more to help me than you. I know, I'm selfish.

3. For all of you wondering about the strawberries, that morning I read an article in the newspaper about strawberries being nature's version of Viagra. So I thought I would put it in, just to make what happens between Malik and Marik even funnier. Although, seeing as most of you probably didn't get it, it might have been wasted on you. Hmm…

4. Talking about Marik and Malik, yes I'm sorry I didn't do a sex scene but I can't do them anymore. I don't why, they're just always crap. So I left them for the end, for all of you who really want them. (Luff: So what about Yugi and Yami then! Sheesh…)

Anyway, that's enough notes from me and hopefully you'll review before the next chapter/episode/part thingy.

S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.


	6. Torn into Two

¡Hola mis amigas¿Qué tal? In case you're wondering, it means "Hello, my friends! How are you?" in Spanish. (Luff: How 'bout "Bonjour mes amis! Çava?" I am soooo sad…I think the French is getting to me.) I know some of you will argue it should be 'amigos' but that's only if there are any males. And the Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction realm is rather dominated by crazy fan girls, although please correct me if I'm wrong and there are guys reading this! I don't know why but I felt like writing in Spanish. Nevermind...let's look at some replies to my lovely reviewers (who are still in short supply)!

**Yugi and Mai** – Don't worry about not reviewing, at least you did it eventually! I like how you separated it into the various couples and that as usual, Yugi and Yami get the most attention. But that is to be expected from a crazy fangirl I suppose… Also, thank you very much for the great amount of flattering you've done! But I don't think that the usual Ryou and Bakura relationship would have suited this, considering it's an AU. I know you said it wasn't cliché but I still consider it to be so… Your theory as to the Sun and Moon thing is also interesting but I think you're looking into it a little bit too deeply…I just thought that Yugi was a lot like sunshine. And yes, things will be very bad for them…heh. I agree with you on the Shaman King line though, it would have been a great comedy moment! But maybe not quite suitable for the scene. And of course the strawberries wouldn't have done anything, I wasn't there to feed them to you! As for your questions, you'll find out the answer this chapter. By the way, your reviews are not short, they're bloody long and I hope your fingers survived.

**Hakiri-Nefertiri** – Thank you for telling me that you didn't understand the Council. I'm not sure which bit you don't understand but hopefully things will be a little bit clearer. If not then I'll add in a scene in the next chapter to explain it. Is it one thing in particular? It's something I actually ignored really, which isn't really a good thing because it's made my story weaker. You mean Bakura's secret…ah well it was revealed last chapter so I suppose you know it by now. I know it was Yugi who pestered you to read this and for doing so, reviewing AND adding me into your favourite stories means so much to me! Thank you so much, you've made me very happy! #Pause# I sounded scarily like Tohru from Fruits Basket there…I don't know if you know the character but if you do, please reassure me I didn't.

**Disclaimer**: Yeah, yeah, I know I don't own it! I also don't own Super Smash Bros Melee, Nintendo do. But I do own a story...this one.

**Warning**: Some swearing, some references to sex, more bad nasty words, the society's coming out (no pun intended) in all it's...technicolour...glory...

**Note**: "Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs /_blah_/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between Yugi and Yami. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

The last chapter was relatively light and happy, which is just as well as this is the chapter where it all goes downhill for our group! If you're wondering what could happen, then you obviously haven't been reading the story carefully. For the following events will seem inevitable...but it will all work out. Promise. And at least this chapter is shorter (just about) than the last one...

* * *

**Chapter five: Torn into Two**

Marik and Malik were at Marik's house, sitting on his bed as they kissed. They had been taking a lot of risks recently, the others were worried about their behaviour as if they got caught, the others were in danger too. But they mostly ignored their worries; all that was important was their love. The fact that Yami had called them sluts hadn't really helped though. Marik still wouldn't talk to him and so Malik was trying to cheer him up.

"Just ignore him Marik, he doesn't matter." He whispered, rubbing his back.

"Yes it does! What if they all think that? I'm not a…" He didn't say the word; Malik knew how much it hurt him.

"They don't think that, you heard how the others reacted when Yami said it. They were just as outraged as we were."

"Probably because he was brave enough to say it! I know the others think it; I saw the look in Yugi and Ryou's eyes when he said it. And they've been avoiding me for ages."

"Marik, you're being paranoid. We are not sluts, we just enjoy being together. What's wrong with that?" Marik didn't reply to this and so Malik kissed him. "Marik?"

"I just wish things were different…" He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning against Malik.

"They will be, one day. But right now we'll just have to do with this." He looked down at Marik and their lips met once more but this time, they just stayed still, liking the silence in the room. Until they heard a voice.

"MARIK WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" They looked around in shock and saw Marik's mum standing in the doorway, looking beyond angry. They stared at each other, unable to move as two sets of feet thundered towards their room and Ishizu and Odion entered.

Ishizu looked both guilty and shocked while Odion was merely saddened by the fact they had finally been caught. They had always been a beacon of hope in his eyes, that there could still be love in a place like this. But now that was gone and no doubt Marik would get taken away.

#_No, I will not let Marik go again._# He thought and he waited to see what would happen.

"I asked you what you were doing?" His mum repeated, stepping closer.

"We were kissing mum and if you take one more step forward I'll warp your mind so badly you'll just be a gibbering wreck on the floor." Marik stood up and held the Millennium Rod in front of him, pointing it straight at her. "I'm not afraid to use it."

"You wouldn't use it on me." She replied.

"Oh really? Then let me change your mind." His voice had become deeper as he started to glow purple, white light gathering at the end of the Rod.

"Marik, don't do it. Please…" Malik said, standing up and placing his hand on Marik's.

"You keep your hands off my son you faggot!" His mum shrieked and he flinched at the word but still kept his hand where it was.

"Marik, this won't help us." He whispered and smiled when he saw the colour disappearing and soon his Marik was back. "Thank you."

"I hope that was the right thing to do." He whispered, putting his arms around Malik.

"Right, that's it! I'm phoning the police!" And she turned around and stormed out of the room. Odion looked panicked and turned to Ishizu.

"Please Ishizu, go down and do whatever you have to do to stop her from phoning the authorities while I talk to them." He said quickly and she frowned.

"But why Odion?"

"Because I am not letting Marik go again." He muttered and nodding her head, she ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Odion turned back to the couple and saw them kissing each other gently, both crying. They knew what was going to happen, or thought they knew anyway. It was their worst nightmare, to be torn apart like this. He walked towards them and they broke apart hurriedly but still held each other.

"I'm sorry we got caught Odion. Maybe it would have been better if none of this ever happened, if I had stopped it…" Marik said, crying even harder.

"Don't worry, if all goes well none of you will get taken away so you can at least see each other at school if nothing else."

"No doubt they'll put a restraining order on me though…" Malik pointed out and Odion suddenly remembered the conversation they had had. And by the looks of things, so had Malik. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect him Odion. I let him get hurt…" Marik looked from one to the other, confused by what they were saying.

"What?"

"I promised Odion I would protect you, protect you from what is happening right now." He paused, clenching his fists in anger. "The others knew this was going to happen, why didn't we listen to them?"

"Because we thought we knew best. Malik, there's nothing we can do now." He had calmed himself down and smiled at Malik. "I just wanted you to know that I love you and always will."

"I always have loved you and I still do. One day we will get out of here ok?" Marik nodded his head and hearing feet on the stairs, they shared one final kiss, like their first proper one, gentle and caring for the other. Then they stepped away from each other and waited for judgement.

"I have decided not to phone the police but you two are very lucky. Now you," She pointed to Malik. "I want you out of my house and if I ever see you near Marik again, I will phone the law enforcement. I will be putting a restraining order on you, I don't care what Shadi says, if this is what he meant, I'd rather things ended up different for Marik."

"What? You knew this was going to happen?"

"Be quiet boy, you're in a lot of trouble. Now go." Malik nodded his head and started to walk, pushing something into Marik's hand as he passed him. Soon he was gone and Marik turned to his mum.

"What did you mean by Shadi?" Marik repeated but he was ignored as his mum left the room with Ishizu. However, Odion remained behind and told him to sit down on the bed.

"Shadi told us that Malik was going to be important in your life, that he had a hand in your fate. Not only for bad, but for good too. He didn't know what would happen, or if he did, he refused to tell us. That is why you were allowed to be together at school, mum was going to have a restraining order put on him. But now it's happening anyway…" Odion explained and Marik thought about this.

"Why did you never tell me about this?"

"Because that was intervening in powers that are above us. It does not bode well to try and change fate, it will find a way of happening anyway."

"So I could still be with Malik?"

"Yes but the path to reach that may not be nice. It could be years, events have to be subtle, they cannot change overnight." He smiled and looked at Marik's hand. "What did he give you?"

"I don't know." He opened his fist and gasped when he saw the necklace. "I gave this to him not long after we got together…" On the chain was a small, silver ankh, one of most important Ancient Egyptian symbols, the sign of life. "And now he's given it back…" He looked so despondent at seeing it but Odion smiled.

"He gave it back to you as a sign that you are still important to him, that his life is gone until you give it back to him. Maybe if you get out of here…"

"Maybe…"

The door was flung open and his mum walked back in along with several bin liners, Ishizu following her as she stood in front of them.

"You go through all that therapy and /_still_/ you insist on doing…that…"

"What mum? I love Malik, what's wrong with that?" He said bravely but gasped in pain when he felt a hand across his face. His mum had just slapped him…

"I will not hear words like that coming out of your mouth again. Now you are going to take all of your stuff and put it in these bin liners. I knew I was being lenient with you when I let you keep most of it. Now get to work, I want all of this gone by the time I get back up in twenty minutes." She instructed, throwing the bags on the bed. "You have brought absolute shame upon this family…"

"How? No one knows about this." Marik snapped, snatching the bags up and turning away. His mum breathed deeply in order to control herself before leaving the room. "Odion…" He whispered before he sank down onto the bed, the events taking their toll on him.

"Shush, it's going to be ok. Ishizu and I will persuade mum to let us keep some of your stuff…" He replied, taking Marik in his arms and hugging him tightly.

"Yes, we will try and get as much as possible but we have to get started now." Ishizu added and Marik nodded his head.

"Ok."

It didn't take long to put everything away, most of Marik's possessions had been thrown out the first time and he hadn't trusted himself to keep much since then. It was still hard to chuck some of these things away though…

"Hey, what's this?" Ishizu said, holding up an envelope. "Can I open it?" Marik shrugged his shoulders so she lifted the flap and her eyes widened when she took out a Polaroid. "Oh Marik, you look so happy…" It was a picture of Marik and Malik together, their only one.

"Ryou took it a few months ago for us, he did one for Malik too." He explained, taking the photograph.

"You mean he knew about it too?"

"They all did, we told them. They didn't mind…" He sighed before putting the picture in the bin liner in front of him. "There's no point in keeping it."

"Why not? Marik, this is the only thing you two have, don't let it get destroyed." Odion said, taking it back out.

"It hurts so much though. I'll never be with him again." Nevertheless, he took the photograph back from Odion and put it in his pocket. "I'll find somewhere for it in a minute."

"There we go, I think that's everything." Ishizu said, looking around. "We'll take this bag and hide all of the stuff in it in our rooms." She suggested, indicating the one bag that Marik had put everything he wanted to keep in it. It wasn't much; just most of his CDs and cuddly toys but it meant a lot to him. In fact, this whole event meant a lot to him.

"Thank you guys." He mumbled, blushing.

"Whatever for?"

"For helping me with this. I know you could have easily just done what mum did but you didn't…"

"Marik, we're your family. Although I was a bit shocked to find out, I'm not angry. I could tell you love each other and that is the most important thing, not the sex of your partner. This place can be so unfair…" Ishizu said before standing up. "Anyway, I believe Shadi's words hold great importance in them, doing this will not help in your fate. But now Odion and I must go with your stuff." She bent down and gave Marik a quick hug before leaving the room with her brother.

"Remember what Malik gave you…life." Odion said as he stood at the doorway.

"I will." He took out the necklace and allowed it to spin in the air for a moment before putting it away again, feeling like he was putting his heart away too.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next few weeks for Marik were heartbreaking. Every day he saw Malik but couldn't speak to him. He wasn't even supposed to see him; he usually sneaked a glance as he went past Yami's form room, his room too. Malik was never around, he had completely removed himself from everyone, including Bakura and they were best friends. Marik had tried to say hello once but he ignored him and that was the worst thing of all. The others soon found out what had happened and did their best to support Marik but at the same time, they were cautious. If anyone found out that they knew, they could get into trouble for withholding information from the police. So they could only watch as Marik gradually fell apart inside. Of course he had to act normal in front of everyone, particularly his family and his mother was fooled, but no one else was.

He was lying in bed as he thought about what had happened, the Polaroid in his hand. They were sitting outside in the park and Malik had his arm around Marik's neck, pretending to strangle him while they both laughed. The sun was shining, although Marik had a scarf on so it might have been cold still. He couldn't remember exactly when it was taken but he knew that everyone had had them done, including Duke and Tristan. But he hadn't told that to Odion and Ishizu, just in case. He missed him so much, not just because he loved him but the physical aspect too. He liked it when Malik kissed him, he felt so special. Now he was empty…

#_That's it, I'm going to see him! Right now!_# He thought and he got up, putting some clothes on before getting out a robe from the cupboard. He had worn it back in Egypt, when the weather was just getting cold. He had kept it; it was one of his favourite items. It was a deep purple and had on the hood a gold chain and an Eye of Horus for protection. There was a cloak as well, although he wasn't quite sure why.

He put it on and positioning his pillows so it looked like he was still there, he opened his window and climbed out onto the balcony, lowering himself to the ground. He stared up at the night sky, admiring the stars for a while before setting off for Malik's house. He had been there only once, on his birthday and then his parents were out so he didn't know what they were like. The stories he heard from Malik were enough though. He definitely did not want to run into them and hoped he wouldn't be interrupted. He walked along the roads, making sure the hood was fully covering his face so no one would recognise him if he came across them but he doubted it at this late hour. He looked at the houses as he went past, seeing the darkened interiors, the residents asleep. What if Malik was asleep too? Well Marik had to just hope he wasn't.

He arrived at Malik's road and remembered his bedroom was at the back of the house, which meant he would have to use the alleyway and count until he reached the right house.

#_One, two, three, four…_# But soon he had reached the higher numbers. #_Twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven._# There, he had found the house and the gate was slightly open, allowing Marik to push it further back in order to get in. Now he just had to get Malik's attention… #_Ah, gravel._# Not big enough to crack the window but not so small he wouldn't hear it. So he started throwing until he saw light appear in the room, muffled by the curtain. He stopped and waited for him to appear…

xxxxxx

Plunk. Plunk. Plunk…

On and on, it wouldn't stop. Was it rain? No, it was too loud, maybe it was hail… In May? Unlikely… Damn it, he was awake now and he had to go and find out what it was, to put his mind to rest. Rest about what though?

There was a figure, covered in shadow, the moon too new in its cycle to show who it was. He pulled the curtains apart cautiously, wondering if it was a murderer or something like that… Nah, nothing exciting like that ever happened here… Wait, they were lifting up their arms to their head, they were pulling something away, it was a hood. Finally they were revealed, shining in the small amount of light. Marik, he was so beautiful…but what was he doing here? Didn't he know?

"Marik?" He whispered, opening the window so he could be heard.

"Malik, please let me in." He replied, stepping closer.

"Marik, you know I can't do that. We're not supposed to talk to each other."

"I don't care Malik, I had to see you again and if this is the only way…" He looked up, desperate to hear some emotion in Malik's voice.

"I'm sorry Marik, you should go home, I'm not letting you in." He went to turn away and Marik crossed his arms.

"Fine then, I'll stay out here all night. Malik, I'm not moving until you let me in." He sat down on the grass to show he was being serious.

"Please don't do this to me…" He sighed and half shut the window. "All right, I'll come down. Just don't stand there, ok?" He left the window and taking the hint, Marik walked towards the kitchen door, assuming this was where Malik was going to let him in. He saw a figure coming towards the door and the lock turned before it opened and Malik allowed him in, shutting it behind him.

They walked up the stairs in silence to Malik's room but as soon as they were in there and the door was closed, Marik grabbed Malik and kissed him hard, he had waited so long for this… But something was wrong, Malik wasn't responding.

"Malik…"

"We shouldn't be doing this, you shouldn't be here. Things are bad enough already…"

"Do I mean that little to you? That you can just forget about me?" Marik said, glaring at him.

"Don't you dare say that! You have no idea how much I miss you…" He whispered, gripping Marik hard by the arm.

"Ow, let go Malik, you're hurting me."

"And you're hurting me too only you can't see it!" He let go and turned away. "I'm sorry Marik but I've missed you so much."

"Then why do you keep pushing me away? Why did you give me back my necklace? It was for you to keep…" Malik turned around and frowned when he heard this.

"You mean you didn't see it? Marik, it's not your necklace, it's a copy I had made." He put his hand under his top and took out the chain hanging around his neck. "/_This_/ is your one. If you look closely at yours, you'll see something written on it."

"Written?" He took his out and looking at it under the moonlight, could make out an engraving on it. 'My flower of life, Marik'. "You did that?"

"I got Duke to do it for me. I hoped you would have found it, that's why I gave it to you. To show you how much I cared…" He stood in front of Marik, waiting for him to say something.

"So…you weren't giving it back?" Malik shook his head and Marik smiled. "Thank you…"

"Seven months…it doesn't seem that long does it?" He took Marik's hand and led him to the bed. "Remember that day?"

"How could I forget? You showed me there was hope…"

xxxxxx

Odion got out of bed, feeling ominous about something. He was worried about Marik, he knew he had done something, he just didn't know what. He walked out of his room and into Marik's, instantly concerned by the lump, it didn't look like Marik. He went over and pulled back the duvet, groaning when he saw the pillows.

#_He's gone and there's only one place he would have gone to…_# Odion knew something like this was going to happen, he had hoped it would have happened sooner though. By leaving it for so long, he'd just reopened old wounds again. #_I have to go and find him._#

Five minutes later and he set out for Malik's house. Luckily he knew where it was and had enough skills to be able to get into it without making a lot of noise. He just hoped he wasn't too late, that Malik's parents hadn't found him yet…

xxxxxx

Malik remained watchful while Marik was asleep on the bed, he would have to hide him if he heard any noise, there was no guessing as to what might happen to them, he knew. He glanced down at Marik and smiled, seeing the happy look on his face, knowing it might be the last time he would see it. There was no way they could risk being together like this again, his heart was practically in his throat, he was that nervous. They had talked and Malik explained why he had ignored him and Marik knew they wouldn't be able to talk anytime soon. Now he just had to worry about how he was going to get him out…

Knock knock knock.

#_Shit!_# Malik sat up properly and pulled the duvet up, covering most of Marik but the door was already opening… "Odion?" He walked into the room and pulled down the hood on his cloak, looking around the room.

"Where is Marik?" He asked quietly, stepping closer to Malik.

"Would you be angry if I said here?" He said nervously, leaning closer to Marik.

"No, of course I wouldn't. I just want to know he's safe." He was now next to the bed and Malik pulled back the cover in relief, showing the sleeping form of Marik. "I knew he was here…"

"He just appeared outside and wouldn't go away until we talked. So I had to let him in." Malik explained. "He was upset because he thought I had given him his necklace back."

"But you did…"

"No, I gave him a copy I had made, it's got an engraving on the back. But that's not the point." He paused and looked down at Marik. "He understands that we can't do this again…"

"Why is he asleep? Surely he knows the dangers."

"Well after we-" He suddenly stopped and blushed. "Um, nothing. He just felt really tired so I said I'd watch over him."

"What did you do?" Odion stared at him seriously and Malik looked away, feeling his face get even hotter. "Don't say 'nothing' because I'll know you're lying."

"We…had…" His voice died away, completely embarrassed by what he was saying. "We had…sex."

"You what? Well that wasn't what I was expecting…" Odion said faintly, raising an eyebrow. "You made sure he was ok with it before you did anything?"

"Yes, I would never hurt him. He was the one who brought it up actually." Odion thought for a moment and remembered the time he had tried to have a serious talk with Marik about the same thing but he wouldn't stop laughing. In fact, he had got completely hysterical.

"This has happened before hasn't it?" For some strange reason, Malik laughed at this question and nodded his head shyly.

"Um, yeah, it has." He smiled at the memory, remembering how he couldn't eat chocolate or strawberries for several weeks afterwards.

"Well I'm glad you looked after him so well but we have to go now before our mother wakes up and wonders where we've gone to." Malik nodded his head in understanding and leant down to Marik.

"Love you…" He whispered, kissing his cheek before moving so Odion could pick him up. "You'll want his cloak…" He pointed out, placing it over Marik's body, who was leaning against Odion's chest, supported by his arms. His head rested on Odion's shoulder and his eyes were still closed. "Do you want me to let you out?"

"Yes please."

Soon they were standing at the kitchen door and Odion left quickly while Malik watched them, sighing as he saw his flower being carried away into the night…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, I did it! I did one of the questions and I actually understood it!" Joey exclaimed happily as he sat on Seto's bed, maths homework in front of him. He had managed to persuade him to help with his work, hoping it might improve his skills. And by the looks of things, it was.

"That's really good." He stopped and looked at the window. Was it just his imagination or had he heard rustling?

"Seto, what's wrong?" Joey asked, noticing the frown on his face.

"Shush, I heard something…" Seto stood up and first of all looked out of the window before going to his bedroom door. He opened it and stepped outside but backed into the room again when he saw police at the bottom. "Shit…"

"Seto, what's going on?" Joey also stood up and looked over Seto's shoulder, gasping when he saw the men. "The police…"

"Come on, we're getting you out of here." Seto suddenly said, closing the door and walking to the window.

"Seto, there's three floors between this room and the ground! I won't make it without hurting myself." Joey pointed out, refusing to follow him.

"Looks like it's not an option anyway, someone's down there too." He turned around and faced Joey. "I'm sorry I let this happen…"

"Hey, there's nothing we can do about it. If it happens, it happens."

"Don't you know what they'll do to you?"

"I can only imagine but-" He stopped and stepped towards Seto, putting his arms around his waist. "I got the chance to know you and somehow that makes it worth it."

"What?" Seto had never heard Joey say anything like this before. It worried him, what if he said the dreaded words which always demanded an answer?

"Seto, I never got the chance to tell you this before but…I love you." He heard the feet coming up the stairs and continued to stare at Seto. "Seto?" He looked away, he couldn't hold the gaze. How was he supposed to tell Joey that he couldn't return his feelings?

"I-"

"Seto…" The door burst open and armed police ran in. "Please say something…"

"I can't…" He watched helplessly as they grabbed Joey, pulling him away while he struggled against them, trying to get back to Seto.

"SAY SOMETHING!" He screamed, his eyes burning in anger.

"I'm sorry." Seto turned away, unable to watch as Joey was hit around the head and then dragged out of the room.

There was silence for a while as Seto tried to readjust to the situation. Joey was gone, Joey loved him, Joey now hated him… He never thought he would say that, fine they had been together for five months but neither of them had ever done anything romantic. It was so sudden that he didn't know how to react. He didn't love Joey though…

#_Wait, I think I do… How could I fall in love with him? Seto Kaiba never loses control…_# He frowned and sat down on the bed. #_I must love him, I've never felt...this...feeling before, this need..._# He looked up, hearing a noise by the window and saw a woman standing outside on the balcony. He recognised her from somewhere…

"Good evening Seto Kaiba, my name is Ishizu Ishtar and we know what has just happened." She said, her voice deep as she stared at him.

"'We'? Who else is here?" That's where he recognised her from, she was Marik's sister, sometimes they said hi to each other.

"My brother Odion. I had a vision that this would happen, I had hoped I was wrong but the Necklace never lies." She stepped forward and Seto could see a golden choker around her neck, an eye at the front. "Will you stand by and let Joey be lost to evil or will you come with us and rescue him? To prove your love to him…"

"How do you know about that?" He demanded, had she been listening to what they had said?

"I can tell that there is a case of unrequited love but maybe you think things differently now… Will you come with us?"

"What about the others?"

"They are being torn apart too, or they soon will be." She paused and took her mobile out of her pocket. "Odion?" She listened to her brother for a moment before nodding her head. "Thank you, I will be as quick as I can." She ended the call and replaced the phone in her pocket.

"What was that about?"

"It appears they have just taken Marik." She said calmly. "If you are coming with me, we must leave now." While he grabbed his coat, she turned around and climbed over the balcony, letting go as he span round to face her.

Seto gasped, what was she thinking? There was no way she could make it with the boots she had on. He ran to the edge of the balcony and was surprised to see her standing at the bottom, looking upwards. How had she done that? Was it the Necklace?

"Are you coming?" She asked again and nodding his head, he went to leave the balcony. "Do not go that way, it is dangerous. Here, I will help you down." The Necklace started to glow and he saw himself surrounded by golden light before he floated in the air, over the balcony and towards the ground. He landed safely on the grass and she smiled at his astonished face.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"That is quite all right. Now do you know a clearing by the old cottage near the school?" He nodded his head; the others went there sometimes for a little privacy. "Go there and I will meet you soon."

"Where are you going then?"

"I must go and see Yami and Duke. I will try to be as quick as possible, Odion will be coming too with Bakura and Malik so you will see a familiar face soon." She bowed slightly before turning away. "Good luck Seto Kaiba and be careful."

xxxxxx

"Malik?" Odion whispered, shaking him gently as he lay asleep in his bed. He had to be quick, the police may come here soon and he didn't want to meet his parents. Eventually Malik opened his eyes and looked blearily at him.

"Odion, what are you doing here?" He sat up and rubbed his face. "Has something happened to Marik?" He asked fearfully, now wide-awake.

"The police took him not long ago and they may be coming here too. You need to get dressed, come with me and meet up with the others." Odion said quickly, stepping back to allow Malik to get out of bed.

"Why am I meeting up with the others?"

"Because the police are visiting them too. They have already taken Joey and I fear they will be going after Yugi next." Malik remained silent to this, finding the clothes on the chair and some underwear before stuffing it all on, Odion with his back turned to him.

"Ok, I'm ready."

"Good." He took out something from his pocket and gave it to Malik. "This was the last thing Marik gave to me before they took him…" Malik found out it was the Millennium Rod and there was a note attached to it. He opened it and read the writing.

_Dear Malik, _

_I want you to look after this while I am gone. If you wish to find me, you will need it. Although your powers will not be as strong, I have allowed you to be its master until it is returned to me, if it is._

_Love you lots, Marik xxx._

He stared at the Rod; he couldn't believe he had been given this. It felt warm in his hands, like he had always had it. He smiled and put it in his belt before turning back to Odion.

"Where am I going?"

"To the clearing you went to with Marik sometimes. The others will meet you there but now I have to go and find Bakura." He said as they walked together out of the house.

"What about Yugi? I thought you said-"

"Ishizu is dealing with that. Now go, we don't have much time." They went their different ways at the alleyway, both running as fast as they could.

xxxxxx

The door burst open and Yami and Yugi stared in fear at Yugi's grandpa who was standing at the entrance to Yugi's room. They had just been about to kiss each other; Yami was practically on top of Yugi.

"Grandpa, please…I can explain…" Yugi said hurriedly while Yami held onto him protectively.

"You don't have to explain, I understand you love each other very much but now is not the time to worry about that." He said, waving their worry aside.

"Grandpa, what are you saying? You don't…mind? Me…and…Yami?"

"I knew something was happening and as long as you're happy then I cannot stop you. I know they tried to do so with Malik and Marik but I don't believe there's much point." Yugi and Yami stared at each other, this they were /_definitely_/ not expecting.

"You know about Malik and Marik?" Yami asked.

"Yes, I heard what happened to them. But now you must go, both of you. I just got a phone call from Odion, the police are coming here and if they see you…" They looked at each other, the police knew about them.

"It's too late, we won't make it on time." Yugi saw his grandpa open his mouth to protest but he cut across him. "I can sense them." He turned to Yami and smiled. "If they take me, will you come and find me?"

"Of course I will! I'm not going to let you go so easily…"

"Then I ask that you take this, it will guard you against the dangers you'll face." He took the Puzzle and pressed it into Yami's hand.

"Yugi, I cannot take this, you will need the protection more than me." He said, holding it back out to him.

"No, if I keep it they will take it away from me. It will be safer with you."

"Why don't you ask it what it thinks?" Solomon interrupted, indicating the Puzzle. "Put it in between you and ask it to choose one of you. It /_will_/ answer your question…" Yami did as he said and looked up at Yugi.

"Puzzle, who will need you more?" He asked hesitantly and for a moment nothing happened. Suddenly it started glowing red though as it lifted up into the air, the chain extended. It slipped over Yugi's head and rested against his chest, ceasing to shine.

"See, it has decided. There is no point in arguing against it-" He stopped when he heard the door bell ring and Yami and Yugi held each other's hands.

"The police!"

"No, I do not think the police are polite enough to ask permission to enter a house. Nevertheless, I will go down and check who it is first." Grandpa left the room and Yugi and Yami hugged each other tightly, knowing this may be their last chance to do this for a long time.

"Yami, I love you so much…" Yugi murmured, burying his face in Yami's chest.

"And I love you too, my little sunshine…" Yugi glowed at the nickname; Yami hadn't called him that in ages.

"Good news boys, it's Ishizu." Grandpa said, walking into the room but he suddenly stopped when he saw them sharing an intimate moment with each other. He turned away respectively and waited for them to finish, nuzzling into each other's necks.

"Goodbye Yugi…" Yami whispered, kissing him on the cheek and standing up.

"Yami, you must come with me now." Ishizu said, walking towards the window. "Most of the others have been taken already."

"Including Marik?"

"Marik too. Joey was first and Ryou will be next so we must be quick. Seto and Malik have already gone to meet up together and Odion is helping me." She smiled kindly at them as they shared one final kiss before Yami followed Ishizu to the window.

"Police! Open up!" Gasping, Ishizu grabbed Yami's hand and jumped out of the window, landing a few feet away from the bottom of it.

"Now go to the clearing, Seto and Malik will already be there."

"Ok." Ishizu disappeared into the darkness but Yami stayed for a moment, looking up at the window before turning away to find the others.

xxxxxx

Ryou and Bakura had already heard the police were coming, thanks to a text message Malik had sent Bakura and were currently having an argument, mainly about Ryou leaving.

"Ryou, they are looking for you, not me! If you don't go then I will never forgive myself." Bakura yelled, turning away from Ryou in anger.

"Look Bakura, the others will be looking for them and the Millennium Ring will help but /_I'm_/ the link! It can home in on me better than it can on anything else because it is mine. Please don't try and disagree with me on this, this is not your fault, it just happened." Ryou remained calm, he felt sure he was making the right decision.

"I won't let you go…" Bakura whispered, turning around and holding Ryou tightly.

"I need you to let me go, just for now." He replied, taking the cord the Ring was attached to and passing it over his head, placing it on Bakura. "Take it and use it to find them. Please, for me…"

"Of course, I won't stop until I find you but I'm going to miss you so much." He continued holding Ryou, thinking about what was going to happen. #_Sixteen months and this is what it comes to…_#

"But we have a lot of good memories. I've put them into the Ring, all the memories of us together, just in case you find me and they've made me forget. I'll always be with you…" Bakura wasn't surprised that Ryou had heard what he had said; no doubt he could do that with the Ring.

"Will you be able to remember that they're in there?"

"That's your job unfortunately but hopefully I won't." He smiled gently and leant against Bakura. They didn't have to tell each other their love, they just knew.

So instead they cuddled on the bed, not saying anything, waiting for fate. They heard a loud bang downstairs, causing Ryou to jump and Bakura rocked him back and forth gently to keep him calm. They didn't hear the footsteps or the crash as the door broke down or even the yelling voices, they only heard silence and saw each other.

"Be as provocative as you can, I want to go with a bang…" Ryou breathed in his ear, a mischievous glint in his eyes. To prove his point, he practically shoved his tongue in Bakura's mouth, causing him to groan.

"Ryou…" He gasped, wrapping his arms around him and pulling them close together, feeling the heat in his groin. He felt a response from Ryou and bent down, starting to suck at his neck. He was going to leave a mark and hopefully scar the officers for life…

Ryou hissed, both in pain and pleasure as he felt Bakura's lips clamp down on his neck. He heard the silence and could only imagine what the police must have been thinking. Unfortunately he was facing away from them so he couldn't see their faces but he could tell Bakura was finding it difficult not to laugh, it /_must_/ have a been a picture. It was starting to hurt though, he knew what Bakura was trying to do and didn't mind but the bruise was really starting to make itself felt. He quickly realised this and stopped biting him, licking him once in apology before gently turning him around so that he faced the officers.

"So what are you going to do now Bandit Keith?" Everyone knew who he was, only by reputation though. You only ever saw him before you were taken away forever. His real name was Keith Howard but no one ever called him that. Mainly because he was a fraud and would use any method to get criminals. Even if that meant breaking the law himself.

Bakura licked Ryou's neck, hoping to provoke a reaction and smiled when he saw a nervous twitch appear in the corner of his cold blue eyes. He kissed Ryou's cheek, allowing him to rest against his chest.

"Men, get them!" He screamed and Ryou turned around, quickly placing his hand on the Ring and they watched it glow for a second.

"Ryou?"

"At twelve and twenty one Bakura." He replied before a cloth was placed over his mouth and nose and he collapsed onto the floor.

"RYOU!" He felt arms grab and pull him backwards, over the side of the bed and he remained on the floor as they took Ryou away, feeling a small kick to the side. He groaned, rubbing the area as he waited until they were gone. Then he cried, his beloved angel was gone and the last thing he had said to him was something he didn't understand. #_Twelve and twenty-one what?_# He rocked back and forth, arms around his knees, trying to cry himself to sleep.

"Bakura, I know you're upset but now you have to find the others…" He heard a voice murmur above him but he shook his head.

"Go away, please." He begged, covering his face with his arms.

"But what about this Bakura? Ryou gave it to you so you could find him. The others need to be with you too." He felt a hand near his chest, a weight being lifted: the Millennium Ring. He moved his arms and opened his eyes, looking into the face of Odion. "Come Bakura, let us go to the clearing. The group are waiting for us." Bakura sat up and rubbed his eyes with his hand before tucking the Ring under his shirt and taking the hand Odion held out to him.

xxxxxx

"I am /_so_/ going to kick your ass!" Duke stated as they sat in front of the TV, playing Super Smash Bros Melee.

"You wish! There's no way puny Falco can defeat the might of Ganondorf!" Tristan said, placing his counter on said character.

"At least Falco has fashion sense! Where did he get that outfit from, the reject bin at a charity shop?" He retorted, pointing to the screen.

"He may not have the best clothes but at least he can fight."

"We'll see about that." Duke said grimly as the start screen came up before the stages available appeared in the screen.

"Ice Mountain!"

"No, Big Blue!" And so they fought over the stage, the counter swinging wildly from one side to the other as the two boys pushed as hard as they could on their control sticks.

"We're going to have Ice Mountain!" Tristan yelled, giving a hard tug on the stick and finally getting it over the picture showing lots of platforms with mountains in the background. He pressed the A button before Duke could do anything and the screen went void, the only thing showing was the picture and white writing at the bottom stating 'Infinite Glacier: Icicle Mountain'.

"Tristan, I hate Ice Mountain!"

"Exactly, now I have the advantage." He replied, grinning at the disgusted look on Duke's face.

"That was a cheap shot because you know you're not going to win." He muttered.

"Yeah, whatever." They listened as the commentator yelled, "Ready? Go!" and after that 'GO' appeared on the screen. Then Duke heard the music.

"No, not the Balloon Fight music!" He shouted, ready to throw his controller at the TV.

"Ha ha, it gets even better for me!" Tristan cackled as his figure ran towards Duke's.

Purple and orange flashed on the screen as the fighters exchanged punches and kicks and Duke wasn't faring so well, mainly because his character was small and lithe compared to the might of Ganondorf. Duke watched as he soared off the screen, cursing loudly at Tristan. But then came the moment, which would give him the advantage: the screen started moving upwards rapidly.

"Ah ha, let's see if your hulking fat ass can keep up with this!" He said, pointing at Tristan.

"Easy." Only it wasn't and before Tristan knew it, Ganondorf was off the screen and off the stage.

"Now we're even." Duke said, nearly leaping for joy.

"Actually, my score is zero and you're on minus one because I hit you off the screen." Tristan pointed out.

"What? FUCK!" He was nearly steaming by this point. "Right, we're going to have to change this."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Using this!" Falco brandished a Home-Run Bat and Ganondorf cowered, the legend of this item known only too well to players. "That's right, be afraid Ganondorf! Now you're gonna get an ass whoopin'!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Tristan indicated the Freezie hidden in his hand and Duke shrieked but too late, his character was now a little ice cube, allowing Tristan to beat the crap out of him.

"You're going to pay for that!" He said, going on the rampage, swinging his bat everywhere, and eventually getting Ganondorf straight in the chest, the bat glowing blue and white as he was smashed off the stage. "Now the roles are reversed and we have only thirty seconds left."

"That's more than enough time for me to get my revenge." And he started chasing Falco all over the stage, Duke trying his best to avoid being hit, hoping he could last for another twenty seconds.

"Come on Falco!"

"Come on Ganondorf!"

"Come and take him boys." They turned around, hearing the voice and stared in shock at the sight of Bandit Keith, not noticing both of their characters going off the bottom of the screen and losing a point each.

The men leapt at Tristan and before he knew what was happening, he was handcuffed and being dragged away by the police.

"Why are you doing this?" Duke yelled, they hadn't done anything wrong. It didn't matter as he was ignored anyway and soon the room was empty.

"GAME!" The commentator yelled and Duke looked on with sadness as he saw Falco posing, having won the match while Ganondorf clapped in a lacklustre manner in the corner. He knew why Tristan had been taken, it was his fault. Because in a way, he still wanted to be with him, despite the talk they had had at Christmas.

"I know you feel guilt and confusion at what has happened Duke, because he didn't have a reason to be taken but I feel the police wanted the whole lot and would pin anything on you in order to do so." He listened to Ishizu, not questioning how she got here. He only wanted his best friend back.

"I need to get him back."

"And you will. The others feel exactly the same as you. Odion and I have collected them together and you will soon set off to find your friends and their lovers but you must come with me." She explained, walking back to the window.

"The others are gone too?"

"Yes, you are the last." Luckily they were in the living room so Duke merely climbed out of the window and set off with Ishizu to find the rest of the group.

xxxxxx

Duke and Ishizu eventually reached a ring of trees, which surrounded some fallen logs and a large, flat stone. The ground was dry and pine needles scattered it, crunching under their feet as they gazed upon the others who were waiting for them.

Bakura and Malik were sat together on one of the said logs, Malik's arm around Bakura as he cried, the pain of losing Ryou still affecting him badly. The others didn't try and interrupt, they knew how much he and Ryou had meant to each other and anyway, they had their own thoughts to contend with. Yami was lying on the rock, arms resting under his head as he stared at the sky, wondering if Yugi could still see the same thing. Before they had got together, he had never had a chance to admire things like this, so Yugi had taken him out and shown him the stars and their names. Seto meanwhile was standing at the edge, concerned about what Joey thought of him now, wanting to get on with the search, instead of waiting. Odion kept on the move, making sure that no one was nearby.

Overall it was a picture of silence and depression and Duke realised how much this must be hurting them. He almost felt guilty about being upset but felt reassured when Ishizu placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. He stepped closer to the others and they looked up, seeming to notice him for the first time.

"Ishizu, you've arrived at last." Odion said in relief as he too noticed Duke and his sister.

"I am sorry to have kept you all waiting." She said, bowing in apology as Duke sat on the other log, feeling very lonely for the first time as he watched the others, lost spirits in the night.

* * *

Yep, another abrupt ending. This is a bad habit of mine, I must try and do something about it... So, let's have a look at any notes: 

1. Yes, the capture scenes got a bit tedious but that's not my fault… Wait, yes it is…

Well, there's nothing else to report so until the next chapter/episode/part thingy, PLEASE REVIEW!

S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.


	7. During the Mission

Another chapter/episode/part thingy for you and now the 'innocents' have been taken, the others have to go and get them back! Which is what this chapter/episode/part is mainly about. Anyway, on to replies:

**Yugi and Mai** – Don't worry about the review not being long, at least it's here! And Pugi, I ddn't realise that they left the brain in after mummification… You'll find out soon about the person who's in control of all of this and although you and Luff would like to think each chapter had a different focus, that goes out of the window once everyone returns! And yep, Marik's mum is a bitch and so am I for doing this to everyone #evil laughter#

**Disclaimer**: No Yu-Gi-Oh! for me as usual and for this chapter/episode/part thingy, I also don't own "I will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "When we get married" (song from Brownies) and "Kairi III" by Yoko Shimomura (see note at bottom for more details on this). But I do own the story/idea/thingy.

**Warning**: Mostly swearing today, there's not going to be any sex anyway. Also I warn you this may sound slightly 'Lord of the Rings'. You'll see when you've read the first page or so.

**Note**: "Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs /_blah_/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between Yugi and Yami. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

As I said above, today is the great rescue of the 'innocents', and is relatively long. However, I've kept it all together as I think it makes more sense. There will be some funny bits too, just to keep you going! Well, hopefully they'll be funny anyway...

Let's get going then!

* * *

**Chapter six: During the Mission **

The group turned their attention to Odion who stood so that they all could see him, Seto sitting down on the log with Duke, although right at the other end while Yami sat up.

"You cannot spend too long here, no doubt the police are hunting you and even if they aren't, your families will be. So you'll have to decide where you're going and then set off." Odion stated and then fell silent to allow them to ask questions.

"What about Téa? Shouldn't we try and tell her what's happened or something?" Duke said, wondering what had happened to her.

"Unfortunately her parents know what has happened and are now going to get her married. I tried to get to her but there were too many people nearby. They will not put her into therapy I think but you won't be able to speak to her." He replied, causing the others to frown in annoyance.

"Then what about our path? How will we know where to go?" No one said anything for a moment before Bakura sat up properly.

"Ryou gave me this, to look for the others with…" He took out the Ring and showed the others. "Only I don't know how to use it. All he could say was something about 'twelve and twenty one' before he was gone."

Suddenly they heard a rustling in the trees and they froze; what if it was the police? But they were astounded when the person turned out to a 5'7'' turban wearing man. He stepped into the circle, and they noticed at once a key hanging around his neck, radiating with an invisible power. It was a Millennium Item.

"/_You're_/ Shadi?" Malik gasped as the others continued to stare at the loop earrings and the sand coloured robe he wore, covered by a white cloak.

"Yes, my name is Shadi. I have come to speak with you as this is important." He started, sitting down on a small stump between the two logs. They noticed his accent was as heavy as Odion's as he stared with his deep blue eyes, set off by his brown skin. "I know what has happened, not because of the police but because of the Millennium Items. I also know that you, Bakura now have the Ring and Malik has the Rod. For reasons currently unclear to even me, the Puzzle is still with Yugi but I feel that he will need it, for himself if not for the others."

"Do you know where we can find them?"

"Do not worry, the Ring will show you that." He looked up at the moon and studied it for a moment. "It will not be long now but until then I have to tell you that this is destiny."

"How can this be destiny? To have our loved ones taken away from us!" Bakura yelled, putting his face in his hands.

"In order for you to continue loving each other and not stop. The Millennium Items have been directly passed down from one generation to the next ever since they were created a long time ago. It has been my job as a keeper to make sure they have been passed down to the correct people and my family have done this ever since they were made. In the past, they were important to the fates of many people, they held unbelievable power. But now, the power of the Items is fading and their need to be passed down will soon no longer exist. That is why, in a way, you have managed to come together because of your love. You will not be able to have any children and so when you die, the Items will be returned to be watched over until the time for them arises again." He stopped, allowing the others to take in what had been said.

"So you're saying this would have happened?"

"Not exactly, I am merely pointing out that you will be together, no matter what happens. I have told you this just so that you know what Yugi, Ryou and Marik already knew."

"Which is what?"

"That they would be the last ones to carry the Items. They did not know why at the time, although when they got together with you, it must have clicked. But now you must go and find them." He stood up and turned to Odion. "They will need your help for just a little longer Odion so I will go and visit your mother to reassure her that you and Ishizu have not been kidnapped." He smiled and turned to walk away. "Seto Kaiba, you would do well to remember what happened between you and Joey."

"How could I forget?" He asked, the pain of not answering Joey was still plaguing him, especially as he now realised he was wrong about his feelings.

"It's not your memory I'm worried about…" He murmured and continued to walk away, eventually disappearing into the trees and night.

"I don't understand what he said…" Bakura said, looking once again at the Ring. "The Ring will show us? And it won't be long?"

"That is his way unfortunately, to talk in riddles; but he speaks the truth." They watched in amazement as the Ring started to glow, rising on its side until it was at face level with Bakura before one of the pointers lifted up to the left of him. It remained like this for a few seconds before falling back to Bakura's chest. "As you can see." Yami's watch beeped and he looked at it absently, before looking at it again in shock.

"Wait, that's what he meant! Twelve and twenty one!" The others looked at him strangely as he started waving his watch around. "It's twenty one hundred hours!"

"You mean Ryou was talking about time? At midday and nine of every evening it will show us the way?" Duke said, trying to clarify what they were saying.

"Yes!" Yami said excitedly. "At least our direction is sorted out now." He said much more calmly.

"Now you just need to set off." Odion said happily.

"But what about food? Or clothes? Or any of the other hundreds of things we need?"

"You will have to do without them. Food won't last more than a week at any rate. I am sorry this is all so sudden but we did not know about it until tonight. Although you think you know nothing, that is wrong. I know for a fact that Yami has a basic understanding of how to survive." They all turned to him in expectation and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Only what Yugi and his grandpa told me, he used to do a lot of travelling as an archaeologist."

"You will survive, I know it." Ishizu said reassuringly but still the group didn't want to move. They knew that when they did, safety would disappear and they would be left alone to face the wilderness and its dangers.

Eventually Yami stood up and the others seemed to leap up after him, not wanting to be seen as cowards. After final 'goodbyes' and 'thank yous', they finally set off in the direction the Ring had shown them in silence, each wondering what the worst thing they could possibly face is.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Yami asked sceptically as the five of them hid behind a bush, staring at an empty clearing.

"Of course it will! I've seen it done in films anyway." Malik said, hoping to reassure them. Which of course, he didn't.

"You do realise that things in real life very rarely agree with things in films, don't you? Such as this…" Seto pointed out but Malik ignored him.

"It's ok, all we have to do is wait for some innocent animal to come wandering along, get attracted to the food and put its foot in the rope. Then we pull on the other end and it gets slung up." Malik explained, not really understanding why everyone was so worried.

"Yeah, then we'll have to cut it down and one of us will have to break its neck or something gross like that." Duke muttered, making the others blanch.

"Well we'll worry about that part when we get to it. Now be quiet!"

So they waited. And waited. And they did some more waiting. Until, finally, a rabbit appeared in the clearing, little nose twitching as it smelt for danger. Not noticing the five humans (who were by this point getting cramp) hidden poorly behind a bush, it hopped forward, sniffing at the ground until it came to a pile of conveniently placed leaves and grass. So it started to eat, not noticing the loop just a centimetre to its left as it finished off the vegetation. Then it hopped away, glad for the easy dinner. There was silence in the clearing for a second until a loud garble of sounds erupted, causing the rabbit to start running until it thought it was safe.

The garble of sounds had come from Malik who was now cursing loudly, running after the rabbit in his madness. Seto turned to Duke with an evil glint in his eye and indicated the rope in their hands. Nodding their heads in unison, they pulled on the rope as hard as they could, getting hold of Malik's feet and lifting him up into the air.

"Bastards! Let me down right now!" He yelled, trying to get out of his little predicament.

"Well I would have to say Malik that that was a complete and utter failure. Let us remember to never try that one again ok guys." Bakura said, trying to stop himself from laughing at his best friend but giving up after several failed attempts.

"Promise us we will never have to endure one of your silly ideas again." Duke said, pulling slightly on the rope, causing Malik to swing from side to side.

"Ok, ok, I promise! Just let me down." Seto and Duke did as he said and he landed on the ground with a crunch. "I meant gently!"

"Sorry, you should have told us." Seto said innocently, holding his hand out to the now bruised Malik.

"Well it looks like we'll be eating berries again for dinner." Yami said and the others sighed. They hated berries.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Seto was having a nice dream about running about in a field, dressed in flowers and a white robe, wondering why he was running and why he had flowers in his hair. He didn't even want to start on the robe. Nevertheless he was having a nice dream, full of pretty colours and light. Suddenly though he started to slide downwards, the world was turning upside down-

"ARGH!" Seto screamed as he opened his eyes and realised he was hanging upside down from the tree branch he was supposed to be sleeping on, his legs the only things keeping him up. And they were losing their grip, very slowly.

"What? What's going on?" Duke asked, being the lightest sleeper he had woken up as soon as he heard the crack of the branch as it came under this new strain.

"Someone help me…" Seto's voice was coming out in gasps as he felt the blood rush to his head. "I'm going to fall off."

"What's the matter with that? You're not that far from the ground." Bakura mumbled, squinting at the loud voices that hurt his head.

"I'm upside down."

"Oh. Wait a minute, I'll come and help you."

"I don't think I have a minute." Seto muttered, feeling himself slip even further. Bakura sat up and carefully jumped off his branch, landing on the ground before looking up at Seto.

"You've got yourself into a bit of a pickle, haven't you?" He said in great amusement, moving so he was standing under Seto while the others watched. "Let go and I'll catch you."

"Are you sure I won't just crush you?"

"I don't think you should really be worrying about that." He replied, just as gravity gave one final tug and uncurled Seto's legs from the tree, causing him to fall. "It's ok, I've got you, I've got you, I-" His voice was cut off as Seto crashed down on top of him.

"You missed." Malik finished for him as Bakura lay winded on the soil, Seto lying on his front across him.

"Yeah, I noticed…" He wheezed, closing his eyes.

"Sorry about that." Seto said hesitantly as he sat up, rubbing his chest to make sure he was ok.

"That's…quite all right. Can you help me up please?" He took the hand held out to him and sat up, resting for a moment before standing up. "Thank you."

"No problem." Yami looked up at the sky and noticed it was getting light; the birds were starting to come out while the stars went away.

"Maybe we should set out, seeing as we're all awake now." He suggested, climbing down carefully from the tree, unlike Malik who made a leap of faith and landed sprawled on the ground. "Very graceful Malik."

"Yeah, I know. You coming down anytime soon Duke?" They noticed him looking down in fear and sighed.

"I thought we told you at least twice last night /_not_/ to go up too high or you wouldn't be able to get back down." Yami said, preparing himself to wait for another ten minutes as Duke tried to get himself out of the tree.

"Of course I can get down, I'm not too high!" He snapped as he flounced to the ground. Was that even possible? The others didn't dare to question it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Look, a town." Duke said as the group reached the end of a set of trees and emerged on top of a hill, looking down at a middle-sized town set in the valley below.

"We should keep to the edge of it, to avoid the people there." Yami suggested, looking nervously around them.

"Oh come on Yami, I know we skipped the last town but I can't stand it anymore! I haven't had a proper wash for nearly three months, my clothes feel like they're going to fall apart and I'm going to collapse! Please guys, I really need this…" Duke pleaded, sinking down to the ground. "I feel really horrible…"

"Maybe Duke's right. I don't feel that great myself and we could probably go faster if we didn't feel like crap." Seto pointed out.

"And look like it…" They heard Duke mutter as he put his head in between his legs.

"Hey, are you ok?" Bakura asked, kneeling down beside him and placing his hand on his forehead. "You're not that hot."

"No, I just feel really tired. I want to go to sleep…"

"Hey, stay awake for a little longer ok while we see what we can do." Bakura stood up again and looked at the town. "Well I have an idea. If one of us goes down and buys some clothes and stuff, the others can find the swimming pool."

"Bakura, now is /_not_/ the time to go swimming!" Malik said in exasperation.

"We're not going swimming, we're using the showers and Jacuzzi. We can have showers, change into the new clothes, go to a laundrette and wash the old ones and then go on." Bakura explained and the others nodded in agreement.

"We just need to decide who goes and buys the stuff now." Seto said and Duke looked up, hearing this.

"Well I think it should be Malik."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you smell the least out of you lot." Duke stated, smiling slightly.

"It's not like you don't smell either!" Bakura snapped.

"I know but I can't smell myself."

"Lucky for you then, we have to deal with your stench all the time!"

"I smell?" Yami suddenly said, sniffing at his clothes.

"Yami, not a good idea…" They watched in amusement as his face gradually collapsed and he recoiled away, causing them all to laugh.

"Yeah, Malik should go." He agreed, once his nose had recovered enough.

"Ok, I'll go. Now we just need some money."

"What for?" Duke asked.

"You don't think we're going to get them for free, do you? Come on, pockets out everyone."

Everyone luckily had put their wallets in their jackets and so they took them out, searching for any cash. Plastic was out of the question as their accounts were no doubt frozen and even if they weren't it meant they could be traced. Which after going for so long, they didn't want to risk.

"Well I've got a twenty." Malik said, pulling it out and placing it on the ground in front of them where they were now sat down.

"Twelve dollars fifty."

"Ten."

"Fifteen." They looked at the pile of money on the floor. "Fifty seven dollars fifty. That's not going to be enough. What you got Seto?" Bakura said, turning to him.

"Hundred." He said quietly, blushing as he placed two fiftys on top of the other notes.

"Are you sure?" Bakura asked, eyes widening at the two bills. He had never even seen a fifty before. He touched it gingerly, afraid it might disappear if he was too violent with it. "Wow, I've never seen one before."

"Is that enough?" Yami said, looking down at the notes.

"Of course it is! And anyway, I am the king of bargain shopping so we'll have change too!" Malik said cheerfully, taking the money and placing it in his pocket.

"That's nothing to be proud of…" Duke said and Malik rolled his eyes.

"Well we can't splash out here so don't expect the latest fashions from Paris ok? Seto, I believe this might be your first taste of what us commoners wear. Just a warning it's not an especially pretty sight." He stood up and started to make his way down the hill.

"Come on, we'd better go look for a swimming pool." Yami said and the others followed him, after checking they looked at least presentable. Malik hadn't bothered of course; he didn't care what others thought of him.

xxxxxx

#_Hmm, I won't need just clothes. I'll need shampoo, towels, swimming trunks…_# Malik started to make a mental shopping list as he walked into the town and followed the crowds, who he assumed were making in the direction of the shopping district.

He ignored the strange looks he was getting, he didn't particularly care what they thought of him but he could understand. After all, his hair was pointing in even more directions than usual, he had grown a beard (well, some pathetic bum fluff at any rate) and his clothes were wrinkled, although they weren't covered in mud, unlike the others. Plus he was looking a bit on the thin side. Although they were now able to catch food and know what was safe and what wasn't, they still hadn't got much to eat, so he was thinner than usual. And he was quite slim anyway. The muscle he had developed hadn't especially helped his figure and now he was a mixture of strong legs and bony hips. Never good. And although Duke said he smelt the least, that didn't mean he had no smell at all. He could see some people wrinkle their noses slightly and he merely hoped they thought he just had sweating problems. Which he could live with, seeing as he was never going to see this place again after today.

The increase in chatter and people indicated to him that he was now in the shopping area and true to his thoughts, brightly coloured windows full of offers tried to get his attention. But he knew what he was doing, he was a shopper on a mission and he had a budget he had to stick to or they were all in trouble.

#_Let's see…twenty dollars each, that leaves fifty for swimming, laundrette and other essential items. Hmm, not enough. Maybe fifteen for everyone. Then I have seventy-five for everything else._# He considered his options. #_Right, I'll get the essentials first, they matter more than clothes do._# He looked around and his eyes lit up when he saw a nice but cheap place. He had never had much money, not because he was poor but because his parents never gave him any so he knew where the cheap things were so that he could save up for more important things. Like videos or music. He entered the shop and started his shopping quest, hoping everything would be here.

Twenty minutes later and Malik had nearly everything and a few extras too. He had added up as he had gone along and reckoned he still had one twenty left overall, which was plenty. The only problem was that he now had at least two big bags and he hadn't even done the clothes yet. And he was struggling to find the last thing, razors.

#_Ah ha, there they are! Now I can go and pay for all of this._# He watched in amusement at the looks people were giving him, obviously they had never gone more than a day without a wash. Malik had gone the longest out of the group, he hadn't properly washed once since they left but he remained the least pungent by the fact he didn't wear the rugby shirt he had most of the time, he always thought it was too hot. Therefore it wasn't covered in mud and was merely a bit wrinkled.

"That will be forty dollars and sixty seven cents please." The assistant said to him and he frowned. He had severely miscalculated by at least five dollars but never mind, at least he had everything.

"Thanks." He said, taking his change and the bags before leaving the shop. Now he could finally get the clothes. Hmm, this was going to be funny. But he probably shouldn't get them anything too awful; he'd be killed if he did.

Shirts, trousers, underwear, socks, t-shirts… The clothes seemed endless, he couldn't tell how much he had but he knew he had done Yami, Bakura and himself. Just Duke and Seto left, the two most difficult.

#_Hmm, Seto would probably want something smartish so I should really get him a shirt… Colours…green would work quite well, something dark though, to go with his coat…_# Malik prided himself on his fashion sense and being able to pick out the right clothes for people. He found a suitable shirt and then set off to find trousers. #_I wish this were done…_#

xxxxxx

"At last, a wash!" Bakura said happily as they entered the changing rooms of the swimming pools. He got a lot of strange looks in response and he coughed nervously. "So, yeah…"

"Hey Malik, what did you get for us?" Yami asked, trying to peer into the bag he was carrying.

"Don't look yet; I want it to be a surprise." Malik said, a smile on his face.

"I'm worried now…"

"Don't be, they're going to be great! I know you'll like them." He had put all the stuff they would need into a bag each, which they were now carrying.

"You've got this all organised, haven't you?" Seto said but Malik merely grinned and he shook his head. "Well I don't know about you guys but I'm getting changed."

They went into their separate cubicles and everything was going fine (Note from Chen: You're not getting a description, perverts!) until they heard a Yami-sounding shriek. The others finished as quickly as they could and waited outside for Yami to emerge. He soon did so, a look of utmost disgust on his face as he held a plastic bag as far away from him as possible.

"What happened?"

"I discovered what happens to underwear if you wear it continuously for six months, that's what." He said, shuddering as he remembered the sight.

"That bad eh? What did you do to them then, grow a nest full of moths or something?" Bakura asked, causing the others to laugh while Yami frowned.

"Erm…" Bakura took the bag from him and looked inside, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I think you've well and truly killed them Yami. I don't believe that once used to be your underwear, how did you get that many holes in them?" Malik peeked into the bag too and giggled, although Seto and Duke refused.

"They look like a big bit of holey cheese!" Malik said, causing Duke and Seto to pale. "Oh well, I got some new ones so you can throw them away."

"I was going to anyway. There's no way I'm wearing them again." They set off to the lockers and put their stuff away before heading to the swimming pools.

They headed for an empty Jacuzzi and sank down in the water with relief, all sighing as one. They quickly realised this and laughed, the first time they had done so for a long time.

"Well this was a good idea Duke."

"Hmm…" He mumbled, closing his eyes and sinking down into the water.

"Hey, what about me? I actually came up with this!" Bakura pointed out, scowling.

"Oh yeah, good idea Bakura." Yami said nervously, adding it subtly in. Or trying to at any rate.

"Quite…" There was silence for a while until Bakura sat up looked around. "Hey, where did Duke go to?"

"Don't know, I didn't notice him leave at any rate. Maybe he went somewhere…" Malik said vaguely, waving his arm around.

"Well duh." Seto said but he suddenly jumped as he felt something brushing his leg. "What was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I felt something brushing my leg. It-" He yelled when he saw limbs appear in the water, waving around desperately.

"Duke?" Yami asked cautiously, not that he would have been able to hear him. Duke's head appeared and he gasped, getting as much oxygen into his lungs as possible. "Hey, you ok?" He took Duke's arm and pulled him up, helping him to sit on the rim of the pool. He coughed a few times and then sat there in silence, breathing in deeply.

"What were you doing down there?" Malik said, looking at him curiously.

"I wasn't down there on purpose, if that's what you mean. I think I fell asleep…" He explained once his heartbeat had returned to its normal rate.

"Well that wasn't a good idea was it? Whatever possessed you to do something silly like that?" Malik replied cheerfully, earning a death glare from Duke.

"Perhaps the fact I'm still really tired…" He muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"We should be able to go to sleep easily tonight, now that we're finally going to get clean. But for now, relax and pretend you're in the Caribbean with a glass of champagne." Bakura said, smiling gently as the image came into his head. Him and Ryou together on a beach alone…

"Not champagne you idiot! That's what posh knobs like!" Malik said, hitting him on the arm.

"Champagne's quite nice actually…" Seto argued.

"Exactly." Seto frowned at him, not sure if he was saying what he thought he was saying. "You mean a nice cold beer." Malik continued, looking once more at Bakura.

"Well whatever. Your choice of drink…" Bakura said, annoyed that his daydream had been disturbed.

"You're thinking about Ryou, aren't you?" Malik asked quietly and Bakura nodded his head, sighing heavily as he wondered once again where his little angel was or even if he could still remember him. "We'll find him, don't worry. We'll find them all and then we're going to get out of this place and start new lives." By now the others were listening and they nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, I want to start my own company…" Seto thought aloud, blushing when he realised this. The others smiled though and he smiled back. "Not security, I've been there, done that. This time it's going to be visual technology." He continued, images of him sitting in an office, people working for him appearing in his mind.

"Hey, that sounds really cool. I want to design my own game and then get it published. I've already had some ideas for it…" Duke added, taking the initiative and continuing around the circle. "What about you Yami?"

"I don't know… I want…to have my own shop. It wouldn't be a chain store, something small that could keep me going. And maybe Yugi will be there too."

"I'm going to earn enough to have a kitchen full of things I'll never use, like bread makers and smoothie makers and just about every other maker…" Malik announced, causing the others to laugh. "Marik could use them instead…" He added vaguely.

"One day, I'll be in a house and everything will be there, including money. I'll be driving and Ryou and I will go wherever we want, whenever we want. I want to spend the rest of my life with him." They sat in silence, allowing fantasies to form for a while before Malik opened his eyes and looked around.

"We'll all do it, we're all going to achieve our dreams. Promise?" He put his hand out, palm downwards and the others put their hands on top of his, saying 'promise' as one. "But until then, let's enjoy ourselves! Who wants to go on the water slide?" He pointed to the plastic tube curling around the top of the building and they all jumped up as one, racing each other to the queue.

xxxxxx

"That feels better, all clean and non-smelly." Duke said as they emerged from the showers, hair soaking wet and wrinkled skin.

"Yeah, but we're now deaf thanks to Malik's…what do you call that? Singing?" Seto asked sarcastically, reminding everyone of how embarrassed they were when Malik burst into song in the showers, scaring the other people away.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my voice!" He replied, indignant that someone could insult him like that.

"Yeah, it just sounds like a cat's drowning, that's all."

"Don't you mean Duke drowning?" Bakura interrupted, causing them to laugh again. "Hey, we finally get to see the clothes you got for us Malik."

"Oh I can't wait! You're all going to love them, I just know it!" He said, clapping his hands in excitement.

"Yes, quite…" Yami said, voicing the group's opinion of his behaviour. "Well as long as you didn't get me a skirt, I'm sure it will be fine."

"Oops, I didn't know you hated skirts…" Malik said jokingly and Yami scowled at him.

"Ha ha. Anyway, I'm getting changed now, it's freezing out here." He said as they arrived at the lockers, opening his and taking out his clothes, as did the others. "See you in a minute." The others nodded and once more they made their way to the cubicles.

xxxxxx

"No, you're supposed to have the shirt undone!" Malik said critically as they stood outside the cubicles being examined by Malik. At the moment he was looking at Bakura, or rather, he had grabbed Bakura by his shirt.

"Hey, watch it!" He said weakly as he stood there being groomed.

"There, that's better." He continued looking at them until he got to Seto. "And that top button's supposed to be undone!" He went to grab Seto but he got there first and quickly undid the button, pulling the collar apart slightly.

"Yes sir!" He said sarcastically but Malik ignored him, stepping back to admire his handiwork with the clothes he had bought.

While he was wearing a purple sleeveless top and tan combats, Yami was wearing a black top and black trousers, held up by a dark blue belt, another one resting on his left side, draping down towards his right knee. Duke was dressed similarly but had on a red sleeveless jacket, complementing his bandana that he wore all the time. Bakura was more casual with a blue and white striped t-shirt and a sky blue shirt with a pair of jeans underneath. Seto was the smart one, wearing a dark aqua shirt and similar coloured trousers, perfectly set off by his long blue coat. Yep, they were looking good.

"So then, do you like them?" He asked. They all said yes and seemed happy enough until Duke raised a question.

"Who did you spend the most on?"

"Hmm…I'm not sure. It might have been Seto or Bakura."

"Typical. And who was the cheapest?"

"Me actually." This certainly shut Duke up and he smirked. "Now, let's go find somewhere for these." He said, indicating the bags they had in their hands. "And while they're being washed, I can show you what else I got."

"You bought more stuff? Whatever for? And how did you manage to get so much change still?" Seto demanded as they walked out.

"Because I know where the cheap stuff is. And I bought more stuff because I thought you would appreciate having a shave and eating something that didn't come straight from a tree or a rabbit's insides."

"Ah, good point."

xxxxxx

"Well I think Seto should go first, he looks like he needs it the most."

"Hey, I am not hairy!"

"You look like you're growing a dead rabbit. Now just go and do something about it please." Seto went off muttering with saucepan of water and shaving foam to remove the 'dead rabbit' as Bakura had affectionately called it while he sat with a pair of scissors in his hand. "So then, who wants their hair cut first?"

"Do we have to? My hair is very temperamental, cut it wrong and it looks awful." Yami said, fingering his now drooping spikes with what could only be described as affection and love.

"It will grow back, don't worry." But he saw that he was not going to tempt them so he shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, I'm going to do mine." He said and with that, he started to carefully trim all of his spikes, making sure he kept their basic shape.

"Fuck!"

"What was that about?" Duke asked, looking over in the direction Seto had gone in.

"I think he's just nicked himself and from the sounds of things, quite badly." Bakura said absent minded, continuing with his hair. "I'm not surprised though, he's going to have to work hard to get that lot off."

"Oy, I heard that!" Seto shrieked, standing up so they could see him and the blood trickling down his chin.

"God, you make a big fuss about a little scratch…" Bakura said, rolling his eyes and receiving a glare from Seto.

"You try it then."

"I'd rather not; I might get fleas if I get too near to that thing."

"Right, that's it!" Seto roared, dropping the razor and starting to chase Bakura around the clearing while the others looked on, rolling their eyes.

"Well I may as well go, seeing as Seto's occupied." Malik said, standing up.

"You mean you actually have something to shave off?" Duke teased, indicating the fluff on Malik's chin. It was something they all did.

"Ha ha, yes I do. Anyway-" He stopped suddenly and watched in silence as Seto finally caught up with Bakura, tackling him to the ground and trying to touch him with his beard.

"No, not the fleas, anything but the fleas!" Bakura screeched and Seto started to tickle him. "Don't…tickle me! It…hurts!" He gasped, continuing to laugh.

"Serves you right…" Seto muttered as he sat up and looked over to where Malik was. "Hey, it's my turn!"

"You took too long." Malik said, poking his tongue out before continuing.

"Don't worry Seto, it's not like Malik has anything to get rid of anyway…"

"Watch your mouth or I'll use this on you!" Malik retorted, brandishing the razor at them.

"Ooh!" They all said as one, causing Malik to huff loudly as he turned back to shaving.

"When we get married, we'll have sausages for tea, sausages for tea, sausages for tea. When we get married, we'll have sausages for tea, sausages for tea!" Malik started to sing, causing everyone to yell in pain as they clapped their hands over their ears.

"NO!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I hate to say it Yami but you're well and truly stuck." Duke commented as the group stood around Yami who was currently struggling to remove his hair from a low hanging branch.

"No, I can't be! I'm not going to be stuck in this tree forever." He said in determination, trying to pull forward as far as he could, until the branch could take no more and forced him back again, nearly colliding into Duke and Bakura.

"Well you wouldn't have got stuck if you would just let me cut your hair instead of insisting on leaving it! You knew something like this would happen eventually." Bakura tisked as he stepped closer to the branch.

"Don't even think about it! There must be another way!" He cried out in desperation and Bakura sighed, standing directly behind him.

"No there isn't so get over it!" He snapped and found the pair of scissors in the bag that Seto had been carrying. "If it helps, I'll keep it to a minimum…"

"Goodbye my hair…" Yami continued to mourn for his hair as Bakura carefully cut him away from the branch. "This is so humiliating." He muttered.

"I told you to get your hair cut." Bakura pointed out, although he was trying to leave hair loss to a minimum, as he had promised.

Ten minutes later and Yami was finally free from the evil tree and he stood there, carefully feeling his hair to check to see how much he had lost. Then he looked at the branch and saw his hair curled around it.

"I thought you said it was going to be the smallest amount! There's enough to stuff a sofa with there!" He screeched, waving his arms around in the air.

"Yami you're exaggerating… If it makes you feel any better, I'll do it properly later on and make it look like it's supposed to."

"Why, what does it look like?"

"Well it's flat on top and half of your bangs are now missing." Malik butted in casually. "And then of course there's the bald patch…"

"The what?" He demanded, eye now twitching.

"The bald patch."

"Bakura!" He yelled, turning to him in anger.

"You do realise he's joking, don't you? You should know that by now…" Bakura said and Yami turned to Malik, eyes glowing in anger.

"Um, let's get going…" Malik said nervously, starting to walk and then sped off as Yami ran after him. "I'm sorry!"

"Children…" Seto muttered, causing Bakura to look at him strangely.

"If my memory is correct, you yourself acted just like this not /_that_/ long ago."

"Humph…" Bakura smiled to himself as they continued walking, hearing the shouts of Malik and Yami in the woods ahead of them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The mountain rose up from their sight and high into the sky, the top almost impossible to see. The group had stopped for now, not sure which way to go so they were going to wait until the Ring showed them, which wasn't long now. They worked out they could either go around, underneath or over it. None of them really wanted to go over it; the weather was still cold, even though it was May. They had been gone for nearly a year now and it was starting to take its toll on them, they were constantly exhausted and their weight loss was reaching alarming rates, Yami's trousers were struggling to stay up, even with two belts. So now they were using the time to sleep, or trying to at any rate.

"What if it tells us to go over?" Malik whispered to Bakura, careful not to wake the others, especially Yami.

"I think we might have to go another way anyway. Yami won't survive going over the mountain, he looks like he's going to collapse in a minute." He seemed to have suffered the most, mainly because he was a lot smaller and lighter than them anyway, before he was skinny, now he was verging on anorexic. "I don't think most of us can survive going over it."

"I'm sure going around it would lead to the same place anyway." Malik said in reassurance, he knew Bakura was worried because they could both tell they were near them now, thanks to the Millennium Items.

They heard Yami's watch beeping and Bakura stood up, walking closer to the mountain. He watched as the Millennium Ring appeared and glowed blue, one of the pointers moving and staying in its position for a second before dropping down and disappearing. Malik and Bakura looked in that direction in despair…

"Over the mountain?"

"We'll wake Seto and Duke up and see what they say…" Bakura said, going over to them to do so. "Shush, I don't want to wake Yami for the moment." He whispered and they nodded their heads in understanding, walking over to where Malik was beckoning them.

"What did the Ring say?" Duke asked, worried by the looks on Bakura and Malik's face.

"Over."

"What? I don't think we'll make it, even if we tried." Seto commented, looking to the other options. "We could always quickly look that way and see if it looks safe." He suggested, pointing to the cave entrance.

"Ok." Soon they were nearing the entrance and as Bakura continued forward, he felt a pain in his chest and it grew, and grew and grew…

"RYOU!" He screamed, sinking down his knees as he felt himself being ripped apart from the agony. He could see something in front of his eyes, a room…there were people around him, in white, lab coats? He looked down and saw shoes but they weren't his, they were Ryou's. He screamed again, the pain returning to him.

"Bakura, what's wrong?" Seto demanded as he knelt down next to him, frowning when he saw that Bakura was starting to glow blue, just like the Ring did. He touched his shoulder but recoiled when he felt a burning sensation. "Bakura, answer me!"

"It…h-hurts…" He stuttered, wrapping his arms around himself, the glow now turning into flames and they appeared to be eating him away.

"Bakura?" They turned around and saw Yami standing up, looking a little dizzy as he walked towards them. "What…?"

"He just started screaming and now he's like that." Duke explained and Yami frowned, seeing the colour.

"The Ring… Why don't you try and see if you can do something with the Rod?" He said to Malik and he took it out, wondering what to do when he heard Bakura cry out in pain again.

"Ok…" Suddenly the Rod started to turn purple and Malik could feel something, it was in his mind. "Shush Ryou; it's going to be ok."

"Marik? Where are you?" Duke yelled, looking around until he saw Malik's eyes glowing purple. "Are you in Malik?"

"Ryou, you're not supposed to be here…" He continued, kneeling down and placing his hand on Bakura's forehead.

"Marik, where are we?" Bakura's voice had changed too; it was lighter, just like Ryou's. "Why are we here?"

"I don't know but we have to go back now…" They looked up at the others staring at them in amazement, seeing Bakura's eyes had changed too.

"Ryou? Marik?" Yami said gently, bending down to their level.

"Yami? Where are Bakura and Malik?" Marik asked quietly, continuing to take in the surroundings.

"You're Bakura and Malik…you're in their bodies at least." He explained and Marik's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh no, come on Ryou, we have to go."

"Marik, I don't want to go back…" Ryou whispered, grabbing Marik's hand.

"I know but we can't do this to them, it's unfair." He said, hugging Ryou tightly. "It's going to be ok."

"They'll come soon, won't they?" He asked, smiling at Marik.

"Of course they will. Let's go now." Ryou nodded his head and suddenly they were gone, Malik and Bakura returned to their bodies. They remained still for a while, shaking from what they had seen.

"Malik, Bakura? Are you two ok?" Seto said, sitting down in front of them next to Yami and Duke followed suit.

"I saw…" Bakura muttered, shuddering slightly. "It was horrible, they were doing…"

"Who? What were they doing?"

"Men, in lab coats…they had things in their hands. They were doing things to Ryou…" He mumbled, looking like he was going to cry so Malik continued to hold him. "And he wasn't there, I couldn't feel him."

"That's because he was here, with us. So was Marik. You just started glowing and then they were suddenly here." Yami explained and they looked at him in puzzlement.

"You're sure?" Yami nodded his head and they smiled in relief. "I was worried they had destroyed him or something…"

"He was scared though." Yami said quietly and he stood up. "What did the Ring say?"

"Um…well it told us to go over the mountain."

"Then what are we waiting for? They're still alive, there's no point in wasting any more time." The others glanced at each other with worry; they shouldn't have to put Yami through that.

"We were going to go through here instead." Duke said and Yami frowned.

"Why? If the Ring told us to go this way then why do something different? Come on, let's go." He started to walk away and the others stood up slowly.

The group walked to the path at the bottom of the mountain and stood for a moment, looking up and wondering how long it was going to take them to get to the other side. Yami started the journey and they kept close behind him, unsure of how long he would last.

"Yami, are you sure about this?" Malik whispered, walking beside him.

"Yes."

xxxxxx

"Malik, I hate to say it but I really need to stop. We've been going for hours now and I just don't feel well." Duke said as they continued to trudge in the snow. Yami was way out in front with Malik behind him, walking with Duke while Bakura and Seto were behind them. Malik turned to look at Duke and noticed he seemed to have trouble keeping his eyes open, always a bad thing in a cold place.

"Duke, stay awake! We'll stop as soon as we can." He replied, grabbing his hand to reassure him and he smiled weakly, nodding his head.

"Ok."

Luckily it wasn't long before Malik saw a cave and he quickly herded Duke into it, glad the floor was dry at least. Then he ran back to the entrance and waited for Bakura and Seto to arrive, waving when they did so.

"Hey you two! We're in here!"

"What about Yami?" Seto asked, once they were nearer.

"I'm just going to get him. Sheesh, he's going to need a leash if he carries on like this." He rolled his eyes before setting off after Yami, who he eventually found stumbling along the path, head down and focused on his feet. "Yami, we're stopping for a while."

"No, can't stop." He said, shaking his head slightly, causing him to sway.

"Yami, you're not going to make it if you don't stop for a bit!"

"If I stop I won't get back up. Can't make…you wait…for me." He said, feet continuing forward in determination.

"Yami, we don't mind! We're all tired; we'll all have to wait for each other. Please come back."

"No, must…carry on."

"Then me and someone else will go with you. I'm not going to leave you on your own. Don't go too far, I'm going to find the others." He stared at Yami, trying to make sure he had heard this and he nodded his head slowly.

Malik sprinted back to where Duke, Bakura and Seto were and they looked up when they heard him, frowning when they saw that Yami wasn't with him.

"He won't stop; he said if he stopped he wouldn't be able to get back up again. I'm going with him, it's not safe for him to be on his own."

"Then I'll go with you. That way, if something happens, one of us can stay with him and the other can come back here." Seto said, standing up.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't feel too tired and anyway, we can't leave it too long." Malik nodded his head and looked at Bakura and Duke.

"You two ok here? We'll come back here, we just have to knock Yami out or throw him down to the bottom or something like that." He said, grinning at the thought.

"We'll be fine. Just go and find him." Bakura said and Malik and Seto left the cave, moving quickly to find Yami.

They were surprised when they saw he was still walking, albeit it was now more of a crawl and they hurried to either side of him for support.

"You didn't have to do this…" He said, looking up at them.

"We weren't just going to leave you on your own, we stay together."

"What about Bakura and Duke?"

"They're together, they'll be ok. We're going to go back and get them later on. Let's worry about getting to the other side for now."

xxxxxx

"Look at that, it's some strange thing I've never seen before." Malik said and Seto and Yami looked to where he was pointing.

"Malik, they're called trees. There's nothing strange about them." Seto said, shaking his head.

"Well I don't know about you but it's been a long time since I last saw any trees. It means we're getting near to the end, they can't grow too far up because of the snow." They walked in silence, allowing Malik's words to sink in. They were near the end…

"At last…" Yami said before promptly collapsing onto the snow in a deep sleep.

"Oh no, I was hoping he would last just a little bit longer." Malik said as they bent down to him. "You take him to the bottom and I'll go back to Duke and Bakura."

"Malik…"

"I won't be able to carry him, I'm not strong enough and anyway, you look shattered. Get him down there and find somewhere warm for him. I don't know what but I'm sure you can think of something." Malik said quickly, helping Seto to put Yami on his back, arms hung loosely around his neck.

"Don't be too long okay Malik?"

"I'll be as quick as I can." They said goodbye before going off in their separate directions, wondering when they were going to next see each other.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So we're going to get them tomorrow?"

"Hopefully, yes. I've worked out a way of getting in but I don't think we should all go, it's safer if there's just one or two."

"Who's it going to be?"

"I don't know, that's what we're going to have to ask the others."

Bakura and Seto were sat on a log, the evening light pouring through the branches of the nearby trees, dust dancing in the air as the others were gone to find something to eat. Three months had passed since the incident on the mountain and they had used that time to recover. They could have gone to the others straight away but as Duke had pointed out, they weren't going to be much use if they weren't back to normal health. So they had stopped on the other side of a clump of trees from where the others were being kept and had spent the time finding out how to get in, where they would be, what security there was. Well, it had been mainly Bakura but Yami had given him some help from the knowledge he had had in the past of it.

Now it was the night before they were going to try and get them out and Yami, Duke and Malik had gone to buy some food, to help their nerves. They had waited nearly fifteen months for this moment and now it was just a day away. Most of tomorrow would be spent disposing of all of the stuff they didn't need and making themselves look better, figuring the others wouldn't be so worried if they looked like they had done when they were separated.

"It's going to be weird seeing them again…" Yami said, once they had come back and they were sitting down, eating.

"Weird, but good." Malik added and the others nodded in agreement.

"Hey, what are we going to do once we've got them?" Duke suddenly asked.

"We're going to fulfil those promises we made, remember?" Malik pointed out.

"But we need to find somewhere to do that."

"Maybe the Ring will show us where to go or something. We'll worry about that bit once we're over the border." Bakura said and thought for a moment. "Hey, where is the border anyway? And what does it look like?" He turned to Yami and he frowned as he tried to remember.

"I'm not sure where it is but it covers quite a big area. There's a fence and spotlights…people with guns patrolling the edge. If they catch you, there's no mercy. A one way gate, entrance but no exit." Yami explained, closing his eyes and saying what he saw.

"Sounds like it's going to be hard. But we'll do it, we have to."

"Of course we will, but first let's just worry about the people in that building through those trees."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(Note from Chen: If this bit seems really bad, it's because it's more of a visual than a written thing. So if descriptions or movement is abrupt, that's why.)

There was darkness, a solitary light shining on a figure wearing a blue coat, facing away so you couldn't see his face. But gradually he changed, the brown hair disappearing and becoming black, the figure shrinking slightly and becoming red before changing again, now he had white hair and was light blue. Moving closer the male's hair was now greyer and bigger, the clothes darker and the eyes pale blue but soon the spikes were becoming more refined and pitch black, as were his clothes and the eyes becoming a fiery crimson.

Yami reached forward and a Russian doll could be seen but he recoiled when the lid of the first one was lifted off, disappearing in the gloom. One, two three, four, five… Then something could be seen at the bottom, different to the others. Yami peered closer and gasped when he saw Yugi, hands clasped in front of him and his eyes closed.

"Yugi?" His eyes opened and they saw him, widening in what appeared to be fear.

((I'm sorry Yami, I couldn't protect them… I've been bad…)) Yami was surprised when he heard the voice in his head but then Russian dolls couldn't talk of course.

"No you haven't, I know you tried your best." He replied, trying to reach forward to touch him but he stopped when he heard his next words.

((But it wasn't good enough and now I have to be punished…))

"Yugi, what do you mean?" He demanded, not understanding why this had happened.

((Goodbye Yami…))

Suddenly Yugi was life sized but he didn't remain like this for long as there was a sickening crunch and his eyes closed, as though only too aware of what was happening, although Yami didn't have a clue. It was only when he saw that Yugi was getting taller… No, he was sliced in half, just like a Russian doll, the organs struggling to stay together as they bulged downwards. His stomach and liver overflowed, falling to the ground with a squelch next to Yami's feet.

He screamed, closing his eyes as Yugi's 'lid' disappeared into the night.

xxxxxx

Malik stood in the darkness, staring at the box in front of him, painted bright yellow with red, green and blue stars scattered across the surface. There was music in the air, a piano playing with the plinking sound of a xylophone mingled amongst the notes. It didn't seem to come from anywhere in particular but even though it sounded gentle, Malik felt worried. Something was going to happen, and it had to do with the box.

"Malik…" He turned around in surprise when he heard his name, it sounded like Marik. But it had been far away, like an echo.

"Marik?" The music seemed to be getting louder and was that his imagination? The handle on the side of the box seemed to be turning by an invisible force, slowly at first but getting faster, as was the music.

The lid burst open and something sprung out, Malik flinging his arms over his face. When nothing happened though he hesitantly removed them, only to stumble backwards when he saw what was inside.

A head was painted black and white; a star over one eye while the other had a falling tear, although both were closed. The grin was lopsided, maniacal on one side and barely there on the other, it wasn't a real mouth though, that had been painted on too. It wore a purple hat, bordered near the large brim with red diamonds, but even this wasn't enough to cover the large pointed ears. The ruff around its neck was red, the edges thin and pointy with yellow balls on each one, as wide as the shoulders, if they had been there.

Malik recognised it from somewhere, although the memory was faint. He had been at someone's house, sitting on the floor as Ryou and Seto were doing something, he had been showing them…

He stopped thinking when he heard a creaking noise and started to back away as the head leaned towards him but somehow he had backed against something, even though nothing was there and still it got closer to him, forcing him to the ground. Soon he was lying there, looking away from it, hoping desperately it wouldn't get any closer. He breathed a sigh of relief when it stopped, although it was practically touching him but this turned into a gasp when the eyes suddenly opened, showing just white.

BOOM!

Malik jumped when he heard the clap of thunder and when it had died down, he saw that the head had changed slightly. Not just slightly though, now the paint was gone and so was the clothes, replaced by light coloured hair and golden chokers…

"MARIK!" He screamed, pushing the head away and jumping up, only to see something purple in front of the box. His body… He screamed again, sinking into madness…

xxxxxx

"Ring around a rosie, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

"Ring around a rosie, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

"Ring around a rosie, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down."

Bakura listened to the voice as it continued singing and suddenly the thought occurred to him that it sounded a lot like Ryou, although a younger version…

"Ryou?" He said cautiously, frowning when a small light appeared, illuminating a box on the floor in front of him. He sat down and took it in his hands, surprised when the lid opened and the singing grew louder.

It looked like a box a girl might have had when they were younger, one with a dancer in it that turned around slowly while music tinkled out of it. Except there was no dancer in this box, instead there was a darkened figure, with their head flopping forward. And although the box was small, somehow Bakura could see the person perfectly, like they had been magnified. They were attached to a pole, hands above their head and long, pale hair covering their face…

"Ryou?" He said again, could it be him? The singing stopped and the person seemed to move slightly.

"Do you know what people think that song is about Kura?" Kura…he was only ever called that when Ryou was frightened. He didn't want Ryou to be frightened…

"No…" He whispered, not sure where this was going.

"They think it's about the Plague…" He paused but Bakura didn't know whether Ryou wanted him to say something so he remained silent. "Do you know anything about the Black Plague?"

"No, not really. Didn't it happen in Britain?" The figure's head lifted up and Bakura knew it was definitely Ryou, although he could only see a pair of eyes glowing in the gloom.

"You should have seen it… The pain, suffering, festering, decaying bodies. Covered in sores and bleeding everywhere…" Ryou seemed to be gloating and somehow Bakura was able to see images of dirty streets, filled with bodies. The mist gradually falling and covering them as two shrouded people walked along with a cart, picking them up and throwing them on top of others, thuds resounding throughout the night air.

"Ryou, stop it! You're scaring me…" He suddenly called out, closing his eyes so he didn't have to see the glow coming from his face, it was like he was being hypnotised.

"What's wrong Kura, don't you like me anymore?" He opened his eyes and frowned, what sort of question was that? Ryou's voice had changed, now it sounded curious and slightly frightened too.

"Of course I do! Why do you say that-" His voice was cut off abruptly when the light finally captured Ryou's body, showing him in full size. He was naked apart from a small cloth tied around his waist and his skin was covered in red marks and large, pus oozing sores. No longer pale and pure, as Bakura had once loved it.

"Kury…help me…" He moaned, head lifting up. Bakura screamed, seeing the red tracks running down his face from his eyes, tears of blood…

xxxxxx

Duke looked on with unease at the bed in front of him, covered in simple white sheets and underneath, a dark shadow. He was reminded of childhood fears, of monsters under the bed…

Nevertheless he stepped forward to try and get a better look when he saw a figure rising through the bed. Not wanting to question the logistics of how a solid object could travel through another solid object, he watched warily until it had finished moving.

"Who are you?" He asked, unable to see anything, thanks to the large black cloak covering everything, including its face.

It seemed to notice him for the first time and looked in his direction for a moment, unmoving until it lifted its hands up to remove the hood and a face was revealed, one half covered by a white mask, the other raw and dry, like it had been burnt. Duke continued to look at the person and saw the spiked brown hair… No one had hair like that, he had nearly laughed the first time he had seen it.

"Tristan?" The figure looked up and Duke recognised the brown eyes, it /_was_/ him. He smiled sadly at him and then closed his eyes.

It happened so suddenly that it took Duke a few moments to realise that Tristan wasn't there anymore. Instead he was all over the bed, on the ground and on Duke too. Blood splashed on the sheets, staining them a dark red and organs scattered around. He lowered his arms from his face and saw a grey, squiggly paste on his hands.

Duke screamed, unable to cope with the fact he had his best friend's brains all over his hands…

xxxxxx

The lid of the large chest lifted slowly and Seto watched in horror as a headless body climbed out of the box, wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and green jacket. It knelt down on the ground and looked up. Well, Seto thought so anyway, it was a bit hard to tell without a head.

"Joey?" He stepped forward cautiously, noticing at the same time that it was holding something in its hands. "What's in your hands?"

"I gave my heart to you Seto and you ripped it into pieces!" His voice came from the body yet it couldn't do because he had no head. But at the moment, Seto was more worried about Joey's words.

"I'm sorry Joey; I should have said something…" He whispered, hanging his head in shame. The others still didn't know what had happened between them, that when they saw each other again, Seto wouldn't be surprised if Joey tried to kill him. He was dragged out of his thoughts though when Joey asked him a question.

"Do you still want it?" What? Was he being forgiven? He doubted it…

"Joey…?"

"Then you can have it." He saw Joey's hands drop down by his sides while something appeared in his. He looked down at his left side and shuddered at the organ in his hand, reflex causing him to drop it and back away. "Is it not good enough for you?" Joey screeched, standing up and allowing Seto to see the sinew and muscle, almost making him throw up. "I've never been good enough for you, have I?" He hissed, staggering forward.

"No Joey, you don't understand…" Seto pleaded, backing away from the nightmare in front of him. He stopped though, feeling something in his chest. He looked down and saw a dagger, the metal of the blade barely visible, it was buried in that deep.

"I hate you…"

Seto screamed as he felt the pain but he stopped quickly, choking on the blood flooding his mouth. His sight blurred but the last thing he saw was Joey pulling out the dagger and holding it up to the space where his head was, as though he was licking it off…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"That was the scariest dream I've ever had…" Malik muttered as he brushed his fingers through his hair. It was early in the morning and they had all just woken up from their various nightmares, badly shaken by what had happened.

"Did we all have the same dream then?" Bakura asked, looking around. "In my one, Ryou was tied to a pole and…he was bleeding. Everywhere…" He mumbled, the image of Ryou crying blood returning to him with full force.

"I was by a bed and Tristan…exploded everywhere."

"Marik was a Jack in the box…"

"A Russian doll…he got opened up…"

Everyone's words seemed jumbled together as flashes came to them, their minds unable to cope with the whole nightmare at once. Seto however remained silent, it's not that the dream didn't upset him, but the fact he didn't want the others to find out the truth. He had gone after Joey and hadn't lived a normal life for the last fifteen months for a reason but he didn't think the others would understand. How could they? Their relationships had been perfect; there had never been a question of love with them. Even Duke, who wasn't with Tristan seemed to love him, even if it was only in a brotherly way.

"What about you Seto? Did you have a dream?" Yami suddenly asked and the others turned to him while he put his face in his hands, so they couldn't see the guilt in his eyes.

"Yeah, Joey didn't have a head…" He said distractedly, hoping that would be enough for them. He didn't see the looks they gave each other, all wondering what was going on. They decided however to drop it for the moment, they had to get moving.

"Hey, you three go and wash or whatever and me and Seto will wait for you." Malik suggested and nodding their heads in thanks, they got what they needed before setting off.

They sat in silence for a while, listening as the birds started to sing and the sun cast watery patches of light on the ground, lighting up the fallen leaves and grass. Malik stared at Seto, he had a vague idea of what his dream might have been about but he needed to make sure…

"Did Joey find out the truth then?" Malik said casually, smiling grimly when Seto raised his head in surprise.

"What?"

"Did he find out that you never loved him, that he was just an object to possess?" Malik clarified, keeping his voice neutral, although he crossed his arms.

"He's /_not/_! I love him!" Seto yelled, standing up and beginning to pace. "I just realised too late for him to know the truth…" He added, slumping down in defeat on a log. "He told me, right before he was taken away and I didn't know what to say. He had never been romantic before; I didn't think he felt like that! I didn't think I loved him but when I was in the room, alone, I wondered why I hadn't realised it before." He said, hoping that Malik might understand, although he never could…

"Or was it because you didn't have him with you? Did you think you loved him because you needed someone beside you?" Malik continued to push him, forcing him to realise what he had done.

"NO! I just…" He broke down and started crying, hands shaking as he tried to wipe the tears away. "All I know is I love him. And I went with you and the others to prove that to Joey. I didn't have to go, if I had questioned it, but I did, because I just…knew." He shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Malik. "I know you don't believe me, when the others find out, they won't believe me either but that isn't important. Only Joey is and if he doesn't believe me too then…"

"Then?"

"I'll understand. He was so willing to be taken away, he just said 'if it happens, it happens' to me. And then he told me that…he loved me." He shook his head and sighed. "He doesn't now of course. He stabbed me you know, in the dream. He showed me his heart and then the dagger was in me, he said he hated me."

"Do you think he feels like that then?" Malik asked, causing Seto to look up and frown at him. So far, he had made little judgment on the situation, which he could only be thankful for.

"Yes, I think he hates me."

"Why are you here then?"

"Because I need him to know the truth. As I said, he doesn't have to believe it, he just has to hear it and that would be good enough for me." They fell into silence, not really thinking about much, just listening to the birds flying nearby.

"So you're willing to let him slip through your fingers then?"

"No, I'm letting go of him, realising that I can't control him against his will. There's a difference." He stood up and went over to where the bag was. "We should start getting rid of some of this stuff."

"When are you going to tell the others?"

"Whenever they're ready to listen to the truth." Seto paused and opened the bag thoughtfully. "Not that they ever will be… As far as they're concerned, if you don't love someone from the beginning, you're a complete and utter monster."

"That's not true you know. I know that Ryou didn't love Bakura for ages and Marik never loved me until after the sleepover at Christmas. But we loved them right from the beginning, just waiting until they were ready." Malik explained, walking over to where Seto and the bag were and taking out the razors.

"I think we might still need them…"

"Yes, but not the old ones. I tell you, Duke is going to need a huge house if he insists on keeping everything he gets." He started testing the blades against his finger, careful not to cut himself as Seto digested what he had just said.

"What about Yami?"

"Ah, they were 'love at first sight' people. Well, 'love at first confession of feelings' at any rate. Doesn't really have the same ring to it though." Seto smiled at this but soon it was gone and replaced by a frown.

"Marik never loved you…?"

"For the first three months we were together. Then it was his birthday and…well…he told me." Malik said coyly, not really wanting to have to tell what had happened.

"Was that before or after the chocolate sauce?" Seto asked, causing Malik to blush and look away.

"After." He muttered then looked at him. "How did you know about that?"

"Joey told me, although that's all he knew. I don't think he really got it, what /_actually_/ happened." Seto said, smiling slyly at Malik.

"Yeah, well that's probably a good thing. If you know about it then everyone else must as well… Was it that obvious?"

"No, Marik told Yugi, Ryou and Joey and Joey kindly passed it onto me. I don't know about the others although apparently Yugi was talking to Yami about cookie dough ice cream once." The last bit was a joke of course and Malik quickly realised that, laughing and pushing Seto playfully.

"Very funny Mr Kaiba!" He grinned, only for this to turn into a grimace when he heard Yami behind him.

"What's funny?" The three of them came back and sat down on the nearby log, looking with curiosity from one to the other.

"I was just telling Malik about the thing with you, Yugi and some cookie dough ice cream." Seto quickly said, causing Malik to start sniggering, closing his eyes to stop himself from crying.

"Now why didn't /_I_/ hear about this? Yami, you old devil!" Bakura said, elbowing Yami in the side.

"What! There was /_never_/ any incident involving us and cookie dough ice cream!"

"Well that's not what I heard…" Seto commented and Yami noticed the grin on his face and scowled at him.

"Seto, that's not funny!"

"Aw, come on Yami, it's just a joke! At least it's better than what happened between Marik, Malik, and the chocolate sauce, a die and lots of strawberries." Seto pointed out, causing Malik to hide his face in his hands while the others grinned.

"Yugi told me about that but I didn't think it was true! Well, well Malik Wood, we have been busy bunnies haven't we?"

"Bunnies was probably not the right word to use there Yami." Bakura pointed out, causing him to grimace at what he had said.

"Hang on a minute, how come everyone knows about this and I don't? First of all cookie dough ice cream-" Duke said, pouting at them.

"Which wasn't true." Yami quickly intervened before things could get out of hand again.

"And now Malik and…well lots of other things!"

"It seems everyone knows about it now. I might have to have a little talk with Marik at some point…" Malik said jokingly, causing the others to laugh.

"Hey, what are you doing with those razors? You're not going to throw them away are you?" Duke suddenly asked, picking them up and holding them to his chest like they were an endangered species.

"Duke, they're blunt! Don't tell me you want to keep them?" Malik said in exasperation and Duke grinned sheepishly, noticing the others looking at him with similar faces.

"All right, all right, we'll throw them away! But don't blame me when it turns out we need them!" He said in fake hysterics.

"Duke, the only thing they could cut at the moment is cheese and I don't think we'll be doing that anytime soon. Unless it turns out that someone hasn't been washing properly…"

"Ew, that's gross!" Duke squealed and then coughed when he suddenly realised he sounded like a girl.

"Come on Seto, let's go and get washed. We don't have a lot of time left…" Seto nodded his head and he and Malik stood up and were soon gone from the clearing.

"Do you think he told Malik what was wrong?" Yami said to no one in particular.

"Maybe, we'll ask him later on if we have the chance to." Bakura replied, continuing with the task that Seto and Malik had started.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A building rose in front of them, twisted metal and stone, nestled in the bottom of a shallow valley, protected by the hills rising on all sides of it. Windows blacked out so not only could you not see in, they couldn't see out either. In fact, no lights were on at all and the silence could be felt, not even the wind was blowing or birds were singing. They knew this was where the forsaken were taken to. There were no searchlights or fences to prevent them from leaving but after spending a few weeks there most of them lost the will to live, let alone to escape. And of course they still had security, the nightmares that gripped them as they tried to sleep, hoping that they would be taken away soon. After fifteen months though, that wasn't so important. Just surviving would be a miracle now.

The group watched the building, waiting for the right time. Well, they were waiting for Bakura to say it was the right time at any rate. He narrowed his eyes at the place that held his angel and promised that no matter what the risks or the costs, he would get them all out of there and away from his hell hole they were in. So he waited for the right moment, when he knew they would all be together in the darkness, hoping for the umpteenth time that /_this_/ would be the night they were rescued…

* * *

Well hopefully that was a bit of light relief for you, except for the end of course, and the dream, and Yami collapsing and… Ok, so maybe it wasn't that much light relief. It was also very long...but the next one is short, it's only got two scenes in it. So onto notes for today: 

1. I didn't mean for any of the characters to look stupid, it just made me laugh to think of Malik chasing after this little, innocent rabbit and Seto growing a beard…hehe.

2. Seto didn't get given his outfit from Battle City like the others because I think it looks stupid and /_he's_/ stupid in battle City. I hate him… #Growls#

3. If you went to Brownies like Luff and me, you'll know the Sausage song. I'm not sure it's actually called that but it's really funny because you have to scream as loudly as you can. I did it once on Brownie camp and we got complaints from the locals for being too noisy…oops.

4. Yep, not only is the whole Shadi thing /_way_/ too 'Lord of the Rings', the mountain scene is too. But it was a good excuse to get the others in there, even if it was only Ryou and Marik.

5. Lots of screaming in the dream, the way it works is that everything happens at the same time, so they scream at the same time. But you can't do that in writing so…yeah.

6. The bit with Marik has some music and it's from my Kingdom Hearts (PS2 game, very good!) soundtrack. The song is called "Kairi III" and it's quite nice, although it won't make any sense if you've never played the game or heard the song.

Anyway, lots of notes to bore you and now I'll get going to check up on the next chapter/episode/part thingy, which needs a final grammar check and author's notes. Until then, please review!

S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.


	8. Results of the Search

Another chapter/episode/part thingy for all you lovely people out there and today we finally see what's happened to the 'innocents' after fifteen months. I've been waiting to write this for a long time now so I'm nearly wetting myself in excitement! Anyway, on to replies:

**Pugi Muto** – As usual, don't worry about the review being late! The last chapter was really your favourite? Well this chapter's quite short actually and not a lot happens in it. I actually think this is the worst one but oh well… And I wasn't mean to Yami on purpose, it's just that he's the best one coz he's so rake like! But you'll find out what's happened to the others this chapter. And by the way, why do you have the Ring? I swear my thieving ways are rubbing off on you! Grr!

**Disclaimer**: The usual non owning of Yu-Gi-Oh! and for this part, I non own nothing! But I do own the story and what happens in it.

**Warning**: Swearing and violence (practically non existent) this part but no sex. And no very bad words… Oh, I've just remembered that this will be very OOC. Well, obviously they were going to change…

**Notes**: Just a reminder that "blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs /_blah_/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between various people. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

* * *

**Chapter seven: Results of the Search**

Yami and Bakura crept forward slowly as they neared the entrance, even though Bakura had the Millennium Ring and had some skills with it, there was no point in putting themselves in danger. Bakura wasn't sure why he had asked Yami along but he sensed that they might be more comfortable with him, for some reason.

As they stood at the entrance of the building, Bakura wondered how they were going to get in. After all, the door was locked of course and he didn't particularly feel like kicking it in.

((Ryou, if you can hear me please show me the way. But not through the front door. Is there an air vent or something?)) He had never used this link with Ryou before, he didn't even know they had it but it just came to him. Maybe it was the Millennium Ring trying to help him…

((Bakura…)) There was that singsong voice that Ryou had used before, in the dream. So it wasn't just his imagination then? He took out the Ring and waited for something to happen but nothing did.

((Please show me the way…))

((I can't.)) He replied, no explanation as to why this was, just that he couldn't for some reason.

((Then make it home in on you please.)) He asked, trying not to sound annoyed with him.

((Ok.))

Now the Ring was glowing, pointing to the left around the side of the building so they set off that way, Bakura smiling to himself when it automatically changed direction. It then went upwards before stopping and dropping back down to Bakura's chest. So they must be up there on one of the floors, but which one? Somehow he didn't think Ryou could help so he had to figure it out on his own.

"Hey Bakura, there's an air vent down here." Yami whispered and Bakura smiled to himself. He had forgotten about Yami, which was a bit silly of him.

"Thanks." He knelt down and lifted it away, surprised it was loose. Surely didn't they know it was a weak point?

"It's going to be ok." Yami whispered, squeezing his arm in reassurance and Bakura smiled gratefully at him, suddenly realising how nervous he was about this.

"I know…" He entered the air vent and waited for Yami to do the same before continuing forward, letting his senses guide him to where exactly Ryou and the others were.

xxxxxx

There they were, lying in the moonlight on a ward of sorts. They were on their own and were currently fast asleep, or at least pretending to be. Maybe that was the best option in this place. They walked forward and could gradually see their faces, helped by the light shining in through the windows. Yugi was nearest to them and Yami stopped for a moment to take in what was happening, almost too nervous to go any closer in case he disappeared but Bakura nodded his head and pushed him forward. Yami sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Yugi's face, watching as his eyes slowly opened and looked up at him.

((Yami? Are you a dream?)) Despite the fact he was using the mind link, somehow Bakura could hear him and frowned. How was that possible?

"No, I'm real. We're finally here…" He whispered and Yugi sat up, hesitating for a moment before hugging Yami firmly, a mixture of a smile and grimace on his face. It was then he noticed Bakura standing behind Yami.

((Bakura? Yami, you'll have to tell him something about Ryou. He-))

"I can hear you too Yugi, don't worry about it." Bakura quickly pointed out and Yugi nodded his head in understanding.

((Of course, Ryou gave you the Ring. But Bakura, be careful ok? Ryou's changed and…)) He tailed off and Bakura frowned.

"Changed? How?"

((You'll find out when you wake him up. Do it gently though, sometimes he'll freak out if you wake him too quickly.)) Bakura walked over to Ryou, who was on the other row of beds and frowned when he saw a lamp on the desk beside him.

#_Is it because of the dark?_# He thought before brushing his fingers through Ryou's hair, surprised that it was still so soft. "Ryou?"

((Bakura, don't touch him there, he doesn't like it. It's where…)) He saw Yugi shudder and Bakura sighed but did as he was told. He shook his shoulder once and waited for Ryou to wake up.

Ryou sat up quickly, looking around in surprise but seemed reassured when he saw that Yugi was awake too. He looked to his right and saw Bakura staring at him with hope and he grinned, practically leaping out of bed and grabbing him.

"Big brother!" He squealed and Bakura froze.

#_Big brother? Fuck, they must have messed with his mind quite a lot to make him believe that. But I can't worry for the moment, I'm just glad he's back with me._# He smiled at Ryou and held him tightly.

"Yes, I'm here now." He noticed the looks of surprise pass between Yugi and Yami but ignored them; he had to hope for the best…

"Kury, are we going to get out of here now?" He asked in a childish voice but wait a minute, it wasn't childish, it was his normal voice. Had they done something to give him the mental age of a kid?

"Yes, as soon as we've woken the others. Just sit here for a minute and I'll be right back." Ryou nodded his head and Bakura placed him on the bed, watching for a moment as he bounced occasionally on it.

"Hey Bakura, are you sure you're all right?" Yami asked quietly and Bakura nodded his head.

"Yes, I'm just glad to have him back. I can worry about this later, we need to start moving before someone realises what is happening."

"Yes, you're right." Yami replied and turned to Yugi. "Is there anything else we should know about the others before we wake them up too?"

((I had better wake Marik or he might kill you.)) Yugi said seriously and Yami frowned in disbelief. ((He's done it several times before; he has a knife under his pillow and is quite skilled with it.))

Yugi got out of bed and turned around to where Marik was, keeping away from his bed and planning to approach him gently so as to not startle him.

((Marik, it's Yugi. I'm standing by my bed and am now walking towards yours. Is it ok for me to do that?)) Bakura and Yami looked confused, not understanding why Yugi was explaining it like this. He obviously got some response as he started moving forward, although they hadn't heard anything. ((I'm by your bed now and am going to touch your arm. It's just me; you don't have to worry about anything.))

"Yugi?" Marik whispered as he opened his eyes and looked at him. "Why did you wake me up?" He sat up and saw Yami and Bakura, causing him to jump and snatch the knife from under his pillow. "What do you want?" He screamed as he kneeled on the bed, shaking in fear and anger.

"Don't be silly Mawik, it's just Yami and Kury." Ryou suddenly said with a giggle and Marik instantly calmed down, dropping the knife and breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry you two, I was surprised when I saw you." He said, bowing his head slightly.

"Not another knife incident Marik." They looked around and saw that Joey and Tristan were also awake, probably due to Marik's screaming. "Hey, who are you two?" Joey asked and Yugi smiled nervously.

((Remember Yami and Bakura? We told you about them…))

"I don't know…I know the names but…" He scowled in annoyance and covered his face with his hands. "I'm fed up of not knowing!"

((Don't worry; you'll get your memory back.)) Yugi said gently and Joey nodded in agreement before getting out of bed.

"Are we leaving?" Tristan asked and Yami and Bakura were relieved to hear that he at least /_sounded_/ normal. Tristan was never supposed to have been here in the first place, the authorities were just bitter.

"Yeah, we just need to get the others." Yami said and he walked to the window, slightly surprised when it opened. "Is it a trap?"

"Not as far as we know…" Tristan replied, shrugging his shoulders so Yami pushed it the rest of the way up.

"I can see them, they're quite close to us actually." He commented and while the others went to have a look, Ryou remained sitting on the bed. Yami noticed this and nodded his head in the direction of Ryou.

"Aren't you going to come with us Ryou?" Bakura asked gently as he sat down beside him.

"I'm scared Kury…" He replied, leaning against Bakura.

"Don't worry, I won't let you get hurt." He took Ryou's hand and Ryou smiled, tightening his grip slightly as he stood up. "Come on, let's see if the others have got here yet."

"Ok." Bakura watched as Duke, Malik and Seto finally reached the wall below their window and Yami leant out, looking down at them.

"We found them guys but something's happened to them." He saw the frowns on their faces and smiled in reassurance. "We'll worry about that in a minute. We're going to get them out through the window seeing as we're not too high up."

They nodded in understanding and Yami moved away from the window to let Tristan climb out, landing on the ground crouched before standing up straight and moving away so the others could get out. Soon Joey was out, insisting that he could do it himself, despite the worry of Seto. It was then they realised that Marik's fear seemed to extend to heights too.

"Come on Marik, it's only one floor up." Malik said, trying to coax him out.

"But what if I fall and hurt myself?"

((Marik, everything will be fine. You trust Malik, remember?)) Yugi suddenly said and Marik looked at him, seeming to suddenly realise who Malik was and what he meant to him.

"I do." He said quietly before sitting on the windowsill, looking down at Malik as he looked up. "All we need now is for you to start reciting poetry."

"And for you to grow your hair long." Malik replied with a grin, causing the others to chuckle, easing the tenseness of the situation.

"It is already." Marik mumbled before easing himself down, Malik holding his arms up to catch him. He did so and they held each other, whispering words unheard to everyone apart from themselves.

"Are you ok Yugi?" Yami asked him and he nodded his head, jumping down without hesitation, although his landing was slightly more ungraceful than Tristan and Joey's. He grinned and scratched the back of his head as they rolled their eyes at him.

"Do you want me to catch you Ryou?"

"Yes please." He said, squirming slightly under the intense gaze of Bakura.

"I'll have to go out first then." He pointed out, trying to get Ryou to let go of his hand but he suddenly shook his head, eyes wide in alarm.

"No, don't leave me here." He said, sniffing quietly as though he was about to cry.

"Shush Ryou, I will be gone for just a minute. And Yami will be here to look after you, ok?" He looked over at Yami for some support and he duly walked over, holding his hand out.

"Come on Ryou, stay with me for a minute and we can watch Bakura from the window." He suggested and Ryou nodded his head slowly, letting go of Bakura's hand and grabbing Yami's, smiling gently at him. "Come on, let's go to the window."

"Thanks Yami." Bakura whispered and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't worry about it, we just have to get him out quick." Getting the hint, Bakura jumped out of the window, landing in a similar position to Tristan and looked back up at the window.

"Ryou, I'm down now." He announced and looked back up, surprised to already see Ryou sitting on the window ledge. He must /_really_/ be worried about losing him again.

"Promise me?" He said quietly, seeming to flinch at everyone's gazes.

#_Promise to what? Catch him?_# He mentally shrugged his shoulders. "Yes Ryou, I promise."

He smiled when he felt Ryou in his arms once more, although he was lighter than before. He held onto him closely and Ryou did the same, burying his face in Bakura's hair, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Promise to stay with me Bakura, always." He murmured and Bakura's head shot up, hearing Ryou talk normally and say his full name too.

"I promise, always." He replied, hoping that maybe he was back to normal now.

"Thanks Kury." He almost cried when he heard his voice; it had gone back to what it was a few minutes ago. But for a moment there, he had spoken like before and this filled Bakura with hope, knowing that he was still in there somewhere. Maybe the child thing was just an act for protection…

"That's ok." He let go of Ryou, taking his hand almost by instinct and turned to the others to see what was happening now.

((Yami, I think we should go now. Someone's coming…)) Yugi said, causing most of the others to look in alarm.

"What's happening? Why are you all looking like that?" Seto asked and it suddenly occurred to Yugi that he wouldn't be able to understand him, the same for Duke too. He looked at Yami for support and he nodded his head in understanding.

"Yugi thinks someone's coming." Now they were all fully aware for the dangers and Bakura led the way back to the trees, knowing if they were caught it was the end for all of them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They sat in the same clearing as before, although now Yugi, Marik, Ryou and Joey were asleep on the ground, huddling together, more for protection than warmth. Tristan however was wide-awake, explaining to the group what had happened to them because he refused to go to sleep. He wouldn't explain why.

"So what did they do to you then? Why have they all changed so much?"

"I'm not especially sure what they did to them, they wouldn't talk about it. But the screams were enough for me. They spent most of their time trying to get me to spy on them and when I refused…well, they were a little bit more forceful then. I don't know what happened after that, maybe I said something to them without realising because they left me alone then." Tristan explained, he sounded vague but at the same time, precise.

"So you were ok then?"

"Not really." The others looked puzzled at him and he sighed. "Think about it. What's worse: being tortured or having to stand by as your friends are, unable to do anything?" He paused and watched them as they thought about this. "I felt so useless, I couldn't do anything to help them, I had no understanding of what was going through their heads. I could only sit there as I saw them fall apart gradually. Ryou pretty much retreated into his mind straight away, not so much because of what was happening though. He said that he had to watch over you guys, to guide you. I didn't really understand it but I had an idea it was something to do with the Ring. How else were you going to find us?

"Then one day he just snapped. I think it was something they did to him, he wouldn't go anywhere on his own, he was scared and confused. He did what he thought was best; to justify what was happening to him. Maybe to try and regain some of his innocence…I think they picked on that, they knew it was his weak point." He looked at Bakura, trying to make him understand what could be happening in Ryou's head and he nodded, glancing over at him.

"I knew it too…that's why I tried to help him escape, when you told me the police were coming. He wouldn't survive this, not without a major mind job… And that's what happened…" Bakura said, only just becoming aware that he had known it the whole time.

"Marik seemed to break pretty quickly too, I think he knew what was coming, only it would be worse. The fact he killed five people didn't help though, they got angrier after that, if it's possible. But they were also afraid, they weren't foolish enough to try and make him do anything so they made Yugi do it instead. They knew he could do it with the Millennium Puzzle and although Marik wouldn't do anything at first, he gave in. They used Yugi to blackmail him into submission. And when Yugi realised this, he stopped speaking. He was trying to make it better somehow; by not talking it wasn't as bad when they made Marik come with them to wherever it is they went. Yugi wouldn't even open his mouth to eat or drink until they force-fed him. Then he used the Puzzle less, only to give instructions to Marik. He never said anything to the rest of us; tonight was the first time he had spoken to us in over three months. Maybe you filled him with hope." He said the last part to Yami, who smiled sadly.

"Joey fought back for ages, he wasn't going to let anyone get hurt while he was around. And when he realised what they were going to do to make him submit, he just rebelled harder. Until he forgot who we all were. Then there was no one to fight for them, only me and I didn't know what to do. We managed to get Joey to remember who we were and the memories came back and with those, vague recollections of who you were too. But he doesn't remember who you are, he just knows the names. He doesn't even know their significance and nobody wanted to say, it was too painful for us."

"How did he remember you then?"

"It was different things for us. It could just be the way we were sitting or something we said or even just a movement. Then he would suddenly see the face in his mind and the memories of them. But without you lot near him, he could never get those ones back. Who knows when he will recognise you? He only realised who I was a month ago." Tristan tailed of, the others could tell how much this must have hurt him, they had been best friends for so long. "And that's what happened basically. Every day became a struggle to survive, especially after the thing with Marik and Ryou taking over your bodies. We realised then that you were alive, looking for us, and you weren't that far too. We weren't going to let your efforts go to waste…"

Everyone sat in silence, wondering what was going to happen now. Although they had expected them to change, they didn't think it was going to be this drastic. They had somehow turned into strangers and now they had to try and make them normal again. Where were they going to go? What was going to happen if they got to the border? Would they make it? They had always thought they had the answers to these questions but now it came down to it, they weren't sure. With the condition of the others, they wouldn't be able to move as fast and they would be followed, hunted by 'they', the ones who had tried to hurt them…and succeeded.

"Hey Tristan, who are they?" Duke suddenly asked, breaking the quiet and everyone looked at him with interest. He had a good point. Tristan frowned then moved his hand to one of his eyes, first covering it up then making his hand into a circle, peering through the hole. Then he stopped and Yami's worst fears were confirmed.

"You mean the one with the Millennium Eye don't you?" He said and Tristan put his face in his hands.

"Don't say it!" He snapped, hearing movements from the group lying on the floor. "You've done it now."

"NO!" Marik yelled, sitting up and eyes darting around, his hand near the blade he still insisted on carrying. "Where is he?" The others turned to Tristan for an explanation while Malik went over to comfort him.

"Even just hearing those words is enough to send them into a panic." He leant closer to them so they couldn't hear his next words. "He was the leader, the one who hurt them the most."

He stopped when he heard crying and Yami and Bakura looked up in panic when they realised it was Yugi and Ryou. They walked over and saw them huddled up together, shivering in what was obviously fear and so they gathered them up and brought them back to the ring of logs.

"Kury, I don't want him to come back…" Ryou whispered, sitting in Bakura's lap and putting his arms around his waist. "I don't want to hurt again…"

"Shush, he won't come back." He said, rubbing his back to try and comfort him. #_I won't let them hurt my little angel…_#

"Angel, Kury?" He asked and it suddenly occurred to Bakura that he could hear his thoughts because of the Millennium Ring and that he still had it.

"Yes Ryou, you are my angel. And angels have to be protected…" He took the Ring and placed it on Ryou. "Do you remember giving this to me, just before you left? You showed us the way, even when you were feeling bad…"

"Before? I remember…nothing." He said, screwing his face up in concentration. "But I said to you that I would show you the way so I did. It's bad to break promises." He pouted slightly, causing Bakura to smile.

"Well I'm glad you kept it."

xxxxxx

"You ok Yugi?"

((Yeah, it's just what he did to us…)) He shuddered and an image flashed into Yami's mind, showing an operating theatre and Marik was lying upon the table having… ((No, I don't want to remember!)) Yugi cried out and Yami immediately got rid of it.

"You'll forget in time, ok Yugi?" They hugged tightly and Yugi was calmed by the regular breathing of Yami, feeling his chest rise and fall.

((Yami, am I still your sunshine? Now that I'm tainted…)) He suddenly asked and Yami frowned.

"You have always been my sunshine Yugi and that will never change." He was surprised when Yugi kissed him on the cheek but nevertheless he returned it, causing Yugi to smile.

((I love you Yami.))

"I love you too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Guys, what are we going to do now?" Duke asked when the others had gone to sleep. Ryou and Yugi were now asleep again while they had finally got Tristan to go with them too. They weren't sure what Malik and Marik were doing but at least they were being quiet about it and soon Malik was back with them, having got Marik to go to sleep, even though he still had the knife in his hand.

"We're going to find the border of course." Malik pointed out and Duke sighed.

"But /_where_/ is the border? We have no idea as to where we are and I bet it won't be long until they try and go looking for them."

"I'll ask Ryou about it, maybe he can use the Ring." Bakura said to try and pacify them; he didn't particularly feel like having to listen to the argument that was going to erupt.

"Fat lot of use that's going to be, Ryou's in cloud cuckoo land at the moment." Duke said and Bakura scowled, he didn't understand.

"He may appear stupid but he knows what's going on." Bakura growled and although he didn't act like he was bothered by the comment, it hurt him deeply. Ryou had been through so much, at least Tristan was ok.

"Look, we'll just work our way from this place, try and put some distance between us and them. Then Bakura can try and get Ryou to use the Ring." Seto suggested.

They looked over at Seto and suddenly realised that maybe he had it the worst, at least the others could remember who they were (although wrongly in Bakura's case). Joey so far had made no sound of recognition as to whom Seto was and yet he had not said a single word about it. They didn't know the truth of course but that wasn't the point, they seemed lucky compared to him.

"We're sorry Seto, are you ok?" Duke asked quietly and Seto's forehead creased as he tried to think how to answer this without raising their suspicions, especially Malik's.

"I'm…fine. One day he'll remember me." He didn't dare to look at Malik in case he gave something away. #_One day…then we can talk and I will tell him the truth._#

"One day everything will be back to normal. But until then we should get some sleep." Yami said and the others nodded in agreement, drifting off one by one.

* * *

ARGH! It's too short! I'm sorry, it was /_so_/ not supposed to be like this. Oh well, it was bad, very bad. You were supposed to get an idea of the psychological torment they're going through but it never happened. I might put it in chapter 10 when… Wait, that would spoil the plot. Oh you'll find out…

Notes for today:

1. Nothing! I have no comments to make, which is unusual… Apart from the fact there were no songs today!

Anyway, continue to review, you know that writers need them to survive!

S. Chensu xxx.


	9. The Great Escape

Another chapter/episode/part thingy (must decide what they are) for you and now it's 'The Great Escape' #cue the theme tune# der der der der da, der da der der dada der der dada der der… #continues in ranting manner to music from free DVD from 'DVD Monthly'#. If you don't know it, shame on you! It's the one with all the brass in it! Come on, you /_must_/ know it! #Sigh# Never mind, let's get onto reviewer replies:

**Pugi Muto** – As usual, at least your reviewed! I'm glad you still like the story but am very worried by the fact that you think Téa is going to get married to Bandit Keith and that Marik is going to rip everyone to shreds. But that could an amusing thought… Don't worry about Ryou everything will sort itself out eventually but of course before it is I'm going to put them through as much crap as possible! And as for what actually happened to them…well I left that to the audience's imagination so I'm not going to say anything about that…

**Lia Xaragi** – Hello, nice to see you again! And that must have been really frustrating about the review disappearing! And it's good to see everyone taking part as well! But what are you doing up at that time? I'm really glad you like the story so much that you felt you had to put yourself through the torture of reading it all again. But don't worry, everything will be solved…eventually. But…you nearly cried? God, I didn't think my writing was that good… But be pleased because the ending to Kingdom Hearts made me cry too, as well as Green Mile (I was in hysterics throughout most of that film and cried solidly for half an hour afterwards. I made a start on the book but had to stop reading it because it made me sad and angry) and the Amber Spyglass (what a brilliant trilogy) too. So don't think you're alone! And NO, TÉA DOESN'T GET MARRIED TO BANDIT KEITH! Where did you get that idea from? But anyway…here is the next chapter for you!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, only the plot and story itself. I also don't own "The Trial" by Pink Floyd and "Yellow" by Coldplay. It would be nice to own something…oh wait, I can in the next chapter/episode/part thingy! Wahoo! Right, time to get on with this then!

**Warning**: This part is an excuse to make Ryou seem really cute so if you don't like then don't read! If you don't like dead insects then don't read either!

**Note**: "Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs /_blah_/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between Yugi and Yami. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

Lots of things happen today, apart from the Great Escape (der der der… #Cough#). Such as arguments (but not necessarily just who you think it will be) and crying…

* * *

**Chapter eight: The Great Escape (Der… Damn, must stop doing that!)**

"Hurry, they're catching up to us!"

"Kury, I'm scared…"

"Just keep running!"

((Yami, we can't do this forever. Please stop!))

Yugi dug his heels in and forced Yami to stop, nearly falling over at the same time. The others did the same and watched as Yugi and Yami argued with each other.

"Yugi, we have to keep going!"

((There's no point, they'll catch up to us anyway.)) He looked down at the ground and when Yami finally saw his face again, he was surprised to see that Yugi's eyes had turned red. ((It is time for them to get what they deserve…))

"W-what's going on…Yugi?" He backed away, frightened by the change in him. Unlike Bakura and Malik, he had never possibly been on the receiving end of a Millennium Item, not that Yugi would hurt him.

"Yami, he knows what he's doing, don't worry." Bakura said quietly, stepping closer to him.

"How can you be so sure?" Yami snapped.

"Because Ryou's done this a few times too. Only /_I_/ was what Ryou was aiming for, here Yugi just wants to hurt them I think." The others didn't really have a clue as to what was going on, although they agreed with Yugi: they /_would_/ catch up eventually.

Crashing was heard and people jumped into the clearing, surrounding them. They wore suits and sunglasses, looking like bodyguards. They were the ones who took them to be hurt, the instigation of their nightmares. Marik and Ryou started to whimper, remembering what had been done to them while Yugi became angrier, the redness spilling out onto the rest of him.

"Freeze! Put your hands in the air or we'll shoot!" One of them yelled, a man with hair like Tristan's, only a lot more extreme.

"This has got nothing to do with you Kemo so stand down." They heard a smooth, aristocratic voice and marvelled at the man emerging into the clearing wearing a red suit with long grey coloured hair. How did he manage to get so far without ruining his clothes?

It was then they noticed the golden glow underneath the hair covering one eye and realised it was him: the one with the Millennium Eye. The one you weren't supposed to ever see if you knew what was good for you. He turned to face them and they all hid as far as they could from his gaze, it was dangerous for your mind if you did that.

"Well well well, I was expecting a little rescue party although maybe it would have been better for you if you had come earlier." A faint green aura could be seen around him as he stepped forward but suddenly Yugi did the same, flaring up.

((Leave them alone Pegasus; this is between you and me!)) He yelled, the strength of his current powers allowing everyone to hear what he was saying.

"And why do you think, little Yugi, that you have the strength to defeat me?" He asked, the light surrounding him increasing as the Eye started to glow.

((Because I have my friends to support me whereas you have nothing but men who simply obey you because they're scared of you!))

"I wouldn't rely so heavily on your friends if I were you Yugi boy, seeing as most of them are mentally unstable." Pegasus taunted, looking over Yugi at the others who were standing there in silence, not quite sure of what was going to happen.

((BECAUSE OF YOU!))

The colour erupted at the same time from each of them, green from Pegasus and red from Yugi, heading directly for each other. They collided together in a burst of light and power and when the figures could finally be seen again, they had started a battle of strength and endurance, in which the loser would almost certainly be killed.

"Yugi…?" Ryou stepped forward, curious and at the same time, frightened as to what was happening. He ignored Bakura's hand and continued towards Yugi, trying to understand what was going on. He gasped when Yugi slumped to his knees, pain etched across his face and he looked at the person who had caused the pain, who had hurt his friend.

"Well it seems that your friends weren't enough to save you…" Pegasus chuckled, causing Ryou to shudder, he had heard that laugh too many times and he didn't want to hear it anymore. And now he was going to finish them off, he was going to hurt again, and Ryou didn't want to feel that. He was going to pay for the hurt…

"RYOU, NO!" Marik yelled as he realised what was going to happen, taking the Millennium Rod from Malik and holding it out in front of him.

The purple shield spread over them just as the whole area was covered in blue flames, Ryou now just a figure amongst the colour. The suited men screamed in agony as they felt the backlash of all the pain they had caused, seemingly increased, but the others felt nothing because of the shield, although the flames ran over them. Pegasus meanwhile looked away from Yugi, distracted by the sudden surge of power from an unknown source. His eyes widened when he saw the figure slowly rising into the air, arms flung apart as the light poured from it, unchecked as it ran amok amongst everything nearby. Soon it was floating downwards, wings on either side of it while its hair flowed with an unearthly light. It looked directly at him and he felt his soul being pierced by that gaze until it looked away again, hearing a voice amongst the pain.

"Ryou…what are you…?" Bakura stepped out of the shield, surprised he didn't feel any pain and stood in front of the figure, trying to find Ryou in there.

"I am your angel…" He heard, although the person's mouth didn't move. It leant forward and Bakura glimpsed brown eyes for a moment before their lips met and he felt wings around him, protecting him from the outside world.

As they continued to kiss the light spread to Bakura and it mingled with a light of his own, darker than Ryou's but still somehow the same. He gasped as he felt himself get sleepy, like he was losing his energy but he ignored it, continuing to caress Ryou's lips with his own. Ignoring what else was going on…

((This is the end Pegasus! Your men are nearly dead and soon you will be joining them!)) Yugi yelled out and Pegasus turned back to him, smiling.

"Oh and what makes you think that?"

((This.))

As a beam of light travelled from Ryou and Bakura towards Pegasus, his aura changed from green to red, Yugi taking over his power and Millennium Item. He collapsed to the ground, his mouth wide in a silent scream before he twitched once and then was still. The flames gradually died down and Bakura stared at Ryou for a moment before feeling himself fall away, a small pain shooting through him as he landed on the ground and he closed his eyes…

"Kury…?" He wasn't sure what had just happened but he knew the energy loss had been due to him… "Please, wake up…" He started crying, slumping to his knees and shaking Bakura's shoulder in a desperate bid to wake him up. He stopped when he felt someone touch him and realised it was Duke.

"Don't worry Ryou, he's just feeling a bit tired. Let him have some rest and he'll be up in no time." He said gently and Ryou stared at him, eyes wide as he considered his words.

"Promise?"

"Promise." Ryou took Bakura's hand in his and held it for a moment before standing up and walking to where the others were, staring at the dead bodies that lay before them.

((Did…I kill them all?)) Yugi asked quietly, stepping back from the figure of Pegasus.

"I don't know, we should check their pulses…" Seto suggested, bending down to the bodyguard nearest to him.

It was soon confirmed that they were all dead, killed by the combined power of Ryou and Yugi and when Yugi realised this, his eyes watered and he started to cry, unable to contemplate the fact he had done this. He hated violence, and even if they were the ones who hurt them, they didn't deserve this. Why couldn't he stop himself? Is this how Ryou used to feel whenever he lost control? He remained frozen, even when Yami hugged him, too busy trying to think of what to do with the Puzzle to respond. That's when it came to him; he should give the Puzzle to someone else…

((Yami, I can't have this anymore so you I'm giving it to you…)) He lifted the Puzzle over his head and Yami frowned when he saw this.

"But why? Yugi, it wasn't your fault and anyway, the Puzzle is yours."

((Not now…)) He passed it over Yami's head with a bit of difficulty and stepped back.

"Yugi, I really don't think this is a good idea. You have it for a reason-" Suddenly he sank to his knees in pain and he gasped as he felt dark energy rising from the Puzzle, oozing along the chain until it reached his neck, choking him and he fell forward, lying still, his arms spread out on either side of him.

((No, no, no…)) Yugi put his hands over his ears, closing his eyes in a desperate attempt to remove the image of Yami lying in front of him. ((NO!)) He screamed, turning away from him and running into Marik's arms, tears pouring down his face. ((I killed him…))

"No Yugi, he just wasn't supposed to have the Puzzle. It's like he said, you have it for a reason. Just take it off him and he'll be ok…" Feeling reassured by this, Yugi gently lifted the Puzzle from Yami's sleeping form and soon it was back in its rightful place.

"Well I don't know about you but I think we should go and find somewhere to sleep." Seto said and the others all nodded their heads vaguely. "I'll take Bakura, can you take Yami Tristan?"

"Yeah…of course." Tristan and Joey had remained totally silent throughout this, not really understanding the power of the Millennium Items or why things happened the way they did. Nevertheless Tristan did as he was told and soon Malik was leading them through the woods to find a clearing to sleep in, leaving behind the dead bodies.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The group were sitting in a clearing (Note from Chen: Sorry, I know this must be getting boring by now) and although time had passed, the situation hadn't. Ryou was still a child, Yugi wouldn't talk, Marik was paranoid, Tristan was looking normal and Joey still couldn't remember anyone.

He was trying so hard though, especially as the others told him that Seto was the one he was supposed to have been in love with. But try as he might nothing would come to him, he saw a name and had managed to conjure up a face to go with it but apart from that, it was blank. He was getting frustrated now; he could only imagine how Seto felt. They were sitting next to each other, Seto remaining silent and so Joey decided to talk to him, to get him to help.

"Hey Seto?" He said and he turned to him, watching him carefully. "Tell me some things about us. Like the time we met and stuff. What happened?"

"The first time I saw you…I didn't think much. We were at the park; I don't know if you remember what happened when Marik and Malik had that fight…" He paused and Joey could see vague images of a fight, Ryou hurting some people. Seto sighed softly when he saw Joey's forehead wrinkle, it made him look so cute. "You may have not seen me but I was there, watching you all. I thought you were all irritating…"

"But something changed obviously or we wouldn't have been together." He saw the slight pained look on his face and misinterpreted it. "I'm sorry; I know this must be really hard for you. I've caused a lot of pain…"

"No Joey, you could never cause me any pain but you don't remember what happened before you got taken away. You told me how you felt and at the time I couldn't reply…you will never know how much I regret not telling you the truth. You hate me because I couldn't return your love…"

Something snapped inside Joey and suddenly he could remember it all, the hate overrunning everything else going on in his mind. He had felt so betrayed when Seto had just sat there and let him get taken away without even a goodbye. He couldn't even tell him how he felt, he just kept opening his mouth like a goldfish, possibly the only time he had ever seen him like that. Seto tried to touch him but Joey jumped up, looking down at him.

"I gave my heart to you Seto and you ripped it into pieces!" He yelled and Seto suddenly realised, with a little fear, that this is what he had said in his dream. He couldn't remember how he had replied but still the words came out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry Joey; I should have said something…" He whispered, staring down at the ground while the others looked on in amazement, only having just realised the truth. Apart from Malik, he merely looked saddened.

"Do you still want it?" Now Seto was very worried, this was exactly like the dream and if it continued like this then he would die and Joey would never know the truth.

"Joey…?" He had to get him to understand, he had to stop this.

"Then you can have it." He suddenly knelt down and kissed Seto hard on the lips, forcing his tongue in his mouth. "The blood from my heart…" He hissed and it took Seto a few seconds to taste the blood coming from Joey but when he did he pulled away, gagging at the metallic flavour. "Is it not good enough for you?" Joey screeched, pulling Seto close to his face, although he didn't kiss him again. "I've never been good enough for you, have I?" He stood up again and turned away so Seto wouldn't notice as his eyes moved around the clearing, looking for something…

"No Joey, you don't understand!" Seto pleaded, wanting him to look at him, to see the sorrow on his face.

Suddenly Joey leapt towards Marik, using surprise to easily remove the knife from the ground near his feet before spinning around and glaring at Seto with the deepest loathing. Seto watched the blade and he could sense it was there, even though there was no light to shine on it. He stepped back as Joey stepped forward, wanting to keep an equal distance between them for as long as possible.

"I hate you…" He stated, rushing towards him.

"No Joey, don't do it!" Tristan yelled, leaping up and managing to grab his arm. He gripped it as hard as he could to try and get him to drop the knife but Joey had too much adrenaline pumping through him, not noticing the pain he should have been feeling.

"Let go Tristan, he doesn't deserve to live!" He shouted, trying to get his arm out of Tristan's unrelenting grip.

"That may be so to you but if he didn't love you then why did he come all the way to try and get you?" Joey stopped, thinking about this and Tristan gently pushed his arm back down and covering Joey's hand with his own. "Please Joey, drop the knife. You're scaring the others…" He whispered and Joey saw the wide eyes of Marik, Ryou and Yugi as they were held tightly, soothing words trying to calm them.

"Tristan, I don't understand…" Joey said, refusing to let go of the knife for the moment.

"Just let Seto explain, he'll help you understand. He can help us all understand."

Joey nodded his head and sat down in front of Seto, looking up at his face and although he still couldn't understand the emotion in Seto's eyes, he was now ready to listen. They all were and they paid attention to Seto, who ignored them all, only concerned about Joey.

"What I'm going to tell you is the truth, ok Joey? It's what I should have told you fifteen months ago but didn't because I was too stupid." He looked at the others and smiled grimly. "It doesn't matter if none of you believe me, I don't think you would anyway. Only you are…" He looked down at Joey again and he blushed slightly, trying not to fall for him but finding it hard not to.

"Then what is the truth?" He whispered, hiding his face with his hair.

"That I love you." He paused and watched as Joey frowned, not understanding. "When you told me it was so sudden that I didn't know what to do. I didn't think you felt like that, after all, you had never said anything along those lines before. I was such an idiot, I should have said something but I didn't and I regretted it. I went with the others to find you, to tell you the truth."

"And that's it?" Joey wasn't disappointed; he had just somehow expected something long-winded and poetic, not this raw emotion that was being shown by his words and eyes. He didn't think he could handle Seto like this.

"Yes, that is it. Now I've found you, I've told you the truth. But the most important question is: do you believe me? Because I need to know." He waited for Joey's answer but his mind was filled with confusion.

#_Of course I don't believe that, fucking bastard! But…I do. That's the problem. I wish I could make him hurt for what he did but I can't. I've waited so long for him to say this and now he has and I'm so muddled. Maybe I should give myself some time to think about this._# Joey thought and then stood up. "I don't know Seto, I just need some time alone to think about it…"

"I understand, if I were you then I would too. But you listened to me and that's all I wanted. I never expected you to believe it…" He smiled at Joey and leant closer to him. "Just promise me one thing?"

"What?"

"Tell me when you're ready." He stood up without waiting to hear Joey's reply and walked out of the clearing, probably to avoid the looks that the others were giving him.

"Do you believe him Joey?" Tristan asked after a while.

"Yes but I don't know whether I can forgive him."

"But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest of all." Yami said quietly and Joey turned to stare at him.

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know, I just suddenly remembered it. Maybe you should too…" He shrugged his shoulders and yawned loudly.

"Hmm, Yami's tonsils, just what I've always wanted to see…" Malik muttered, causing the others to laugh.

"Well I'm sure Yugi does. Well…I'm sure he wants to feel them at any rate." Bakura added and Yugi let out a shriek, leaping towards Bakura. "Argh, it's the attack of the small spiky thing!"

((I'm not small!)) He yelled, going red as Bakura raised an eyebrow, looking down at him.

"Maybe not Mr Muto but you are spiky." He patted Yugi on top of the head before grabbing his hand. "Ow! Your hair just attacked me!"

((Right, that's it! You're going to get it now!)) He started running after Bakura while Tristan relayed part of the conversation back to Duke, who had missed it because he couldn't hear Yugi.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Just admit it Malik, we're lost!" Joey announced as the group trudged on a path along the edge of a valley (Note from Chen: Wahoo, finally a change in scenery!), cold, tired, dirty and very /_very_/ lost. Despite Malik's conviction that he knew where he was going.

"We are not /_lost/_, we're just taking a detour, that's all. Taking in a bit of the countryside…" He said, trying to be cheerful but failing when he saw the looks on their faces. "Ok, we're a little lost but it's nothing that can't be sorted out. Just sit down for a few minutes." They did as he said with great eagerness and he walked on a little further, closing his eyes and feeling the wind on his face, forgetting what was happening for a moment…

xxxxxx

"Kury, why have we stopped?" Ryou asked as he sat next to him on a large boulder, staring up at him with large eyes.

"Because we're lost Ryou. We need to find our way to the border but it's proving to be a bit more difficult than first expected. Don't worry though, it'll be ok. It always is." He said, thinking he wanted reassurance and was therefore surprised when he heard Ryou's next words.

"But we don't have to be lost Kury because I learnt something cool a few nights ago. I can do this with the Ring." He closed his eyes and Bakura watched as it started to glow, one of the pointers rising upwards. "I can find anything I want to. See, you are here." The pointer changed so it was now aimed at him. "Or where we used to live." The pointer moved to the left. "Or the border." It was now back in its original place and Bakura looked at him in amazement.

"Can you keep the Ring like that for a few minutes please Ryou?" He said, trying not to beg, but finding it hard to do anything but.

"Of course, I'm good with the Ring Kury." He said, almost proudly and smiled at Bakura.

"Good boy, I'll be back soon." He stood up and quickly made his way over to Malik, to see what he thought.

xxxxxx

(Warning: If you don't like Ryou being cute then miss out the next bit. The same goes for all of you 'dead bug' haters out there)

"And then he just made the Ring point to the border!" Bakura said and Malik frowned.

"Let's have a look…"

They went over to Ryou and Bakura noticed that something was wrong straight away. For a start off, the Ring seemed to have disappeared and Ryou was bent over his hand, muttering occasionally as he squinted at something. He heard the footsteps of Bakura and Malik and looked up, grinning.

"Look what I found Kury, it's Lucky." Malik and Bakura both knelt down beside Ryou so they could see better. It turned out that there was a small red insect in his hand: a ladybird.

"Lucky?"

"Yes, it's called Lucky because it's got seven spots and that's very lucky." He said solemnly before turning back to the insect again. "Hello Lucky, you're my friend aren't you? Yes you are." He nodded his head in agreement with his words. "Look, I can make him move." He then poked the ladybird, none too gently and it scuttled across his hand a few centimetres before stopping again.

"Ryou, you shouldn't poke the ladybird." Bakura scolded, trying to get closer to it so he could let it fly away. Ryou may just be playing with it but it was going to die, all insects did in the hands of children. And although it was just a ladybird he didn't think it deserved it.

"Why not?" He said, frowning as he tried to answer his own question in his mind.

"Because you'll hurt it and Lucky won't like that."

"But I don't want to hurt it." He said, shocked that someone could even /_suggest_/ something like that. He was friendly to everyone and everything.

"Then stop poking it." He reminded him gently as he saw his finger moving towards poor old Lucky again.

"Ok…" Instead, he stroked the ladybird a few times in a loving manner before looking at Lucky again, frowning when he saw it wasn't moving. So he went against Bakura and poked it but still it wouldn't move. It was then he noticed yellow on his hand. "What happened to it?" Bakura looked at it and sighed; he had killed poor old Lucky.

"It's dead." Bakura stated and Ryou cocked his head to the side, his eyes wide as he tried to work out what had happened.

"What's dead?" Bakura bit his lip when he heard this, he didn't expect him to not know some words. He looked at Malik for support and he glanced at Ryou before pointing to himself. Bakura got the gist of what he was trying to say and nodded his head.

"Ryou, Lucky won't be coming back. He's gone to a better place." Malik said gently and Ryou realised what he was saying. His friend was gone…

His head flopped forward and he started sobbing, quietly at first but soon he was hysterical, nearly screaming in his sorrow. Bakura immediately took Ryou in his arms and placed him on his lap, rocking him backwards and forwards gently as he tried to comfort him. The others watched for a moment before receiving a glare from Malik: a warning sign to leave them alone. They did as Malik said, even Marik and he was worried about what was going on, Ryou was his friend. But he trusted Malik to do the right thing so he looked away again, trying to find something he recognised in the wilderness. Meanwhile Ryou had still not calmed down and he clung to Bakura desperately, trying to keep him sane. Bakura glanced at Malik, panic on his face, Ryou had never been this bad before. Malik didn't know what to do either and could only apologise for what had happened. He brushed it aside, saying it wasn't his fault before turning back to Ryou, he had to do something about him now or this would never end. Then it came to him.

"Ryou…" He cooed and Ryou looked at him, eyes red from crying and sticky tracks running down his face. "Don't worry, Lucky's gone to ladybird heaven."

"What…does ladybird heaven…look like?" He seemed to calm down at these words although he was still sobbing.

"It's got lots of plants and aphids and greenfly to eat-" Bakura explained, trying to desperately remember everything he knew about the little insects.

"Do they…like aphids Kury?" Ryou suddenly asked, a slightly queasy looking expression on his face as he thought about the small green crawly things.

"It's their favourite food." He said sincerely, or as much as he could hope and then hugged Ryou close to him. "Don't worry, he'll be happy up there."

"Promise me Kury?" Another promise, only this time he would have to lie. Surely the Ryou inside there somewhere would realise though and forgive him.

"Of course I do." He smiled slightly when he felt Ryou snuggle up against him, his breathing slowing and eyes struggling to stay open. He let them shut, enjoying the warmth of Bakura until he suddenly remembered that he had asked him to do something. He looked up apologetically at him and put his arms around him.

"Sorry Kury, I was supposed to keep the Ring pointing." Ryou sighed softly and the Ring shimmered and appeared in front of them, one of the pointers going straight through Malik and he looked down before turning around.

"Is that where the border is Ryou?" Malik asked and he nodded his head, smiling when he saw the happy look on Malik's face.

"Yeah."

"Thank you Ryou." Bakura said, leaning forward and kissing him gently on the cheek. Ryou frowned when he felt his lips but then smiled, liking it. He may be his brother but it was nice to feel something so soft.

"Anything for you Kury." He replied sheepishly, also kissing him on the cheek. He pulled back, not sure why he had just done that and wondering if Bakura would be mad but he merely looked at him, hugging him once more before turning to Malik who was now speaking.

"Right, time to get moving. We've found the border." The others cheered when they heard this and stood up, mutterings of mock surprise from them causing Malik to roll his eyes. "Fine then, I'll just leave you here and go on my own." He said, crossing his arms huffily, making the others laugh.

"But we'd just follow you Malik." Seto pointed out. "You haven't thought this through, have you?"

"Humph."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I think…we've found the border." Tristan said weakly as they saw a light glare overhead, lighting up the trees like a storm was raging.

"Yami, do you know how far this border covers on each side?" Malik asked and he looked around.

"I think it's about…three miles on either side."

"Six miles! Well this is going to be interesting…" Malik sat down on the ground, as did the others and he put his face in his hands. "Any ideas how to do this?"

"I thought you knew what you were doing!" Marik snapped, scowling at him.

"Well we didn't know /_exactly_/ what it looked like so we couldn't come up with a plan. But we know it's going to be a long way so therefore it'll be running all the way." Malik said, looking at Bakura for conformation.

"The only problem is that there are ten of us so if one of us gets caught, so do all the others. But we can't really split up, we'd never find out who's got over and who hasn't." He shrugged his shoulders. "The only way we could do it was if there was only one person but that's impossible of course." Yugi looked up when he heard this and turned to Marik, giving him a significant look.

"Oh no, we can't do that…" Marik said, noticing the look in Yugi's eyes as he tried to give him the puppy eyes.

"Do what? Is there something we can do?" Seto demanded, looking from one to the other.

((Well…there's a place where everyone can go. It means that there'll be only one person and they'll be safe until the person has reached the other side.)) Yugi started, glancing at Marik and Ryou every so often to see their reactions.

"What do you mean Yugi? You're not making any sense!"

((It's called the Shadow Realm.)) The others looked at him, recognising the name. Could it be that it really existed? ((There are two realms, this one, the one we live in, the Existent Realm and the Shadow Realm, the place of magic and chaos.))

"The power of the Millennium Items can take you there but I don't think any of us has enough strength. It hasn't been done for centuries, since the time of evil. The person left has to be the one who sends everyone there and they have to get over, no mean feat." Marik continued and the others realised that the only people who could really do it would not be able to make it across.

"Kury, I don't want to go to there…" Ryou suddenly said and he shivered in fear. "I've been there before and…" He tailed off, remembering the creatures from that place.

"You've been there? When? How?" Marik asked, no one had ever told him what was there, only the people who got sent there ended up mad if they weren't careful.

"In the night time…during a storm and there were no lights. Then there was black but you could still see, and it was heavy. There were monsters there, warriors and dragons and beasts, all trying to get out and I tried to stop them but nothing was happening. They saw me and moved closer, they wanted to hurt me and I couldn't do anything…" He closed his eyes and shivered slightly as it occurred to Yugi that his grandpa had told him that his bulimia had started after a storm. Was it because of this?

((Not many people have been there and they all say different things. It's supposed to show you your worst fears but as long as you remember it's not real, you're ok.))

"The only problem is that it's hard to remember that when it's actually happening to you." Marik pointed out and the others considered the idea.

"So who would be the person to do it?" Tristan asked after a while.

"Well, it should really be me, Ryou or Yugi but…" He shrugged his shoulders and they suddenly realised that none of them could do it: Ryou would be too scared, as would Marik and Yugi couldn't run fast enough. "And I don't know if any of you could do it. I mean, maybe Malik or Bakura but I really have no idea."

"Are you sure that's it?"

((Positive. They're the only ones who've really had any experience with the Millennium Items. But even then, I don't know if Ryou would let Bakura go if he wasn't with him…)) He said this privately so that Ryou and Bakura couldn't hear him and the others nodded in understanding.

"Then I'll do it. I can at least try and if nothing happens then we'll just have to come up with another plan." Malik suggested.

"That is if you don't get caught…" Yami pointed out, not unkindly but as a matter of fact.

"/_Please_! If I can break into Seto's mansion then I'm sure I can manage this too." Malik said, watching as Seto's face contorted into disbelief.

"When? How? That place is surrounded by technology costing millions!" Seto exclaimed.

"So? It's not that hard when you know what to do. Don't worry, I didn't see anything that bad, only your cupboard full of leather." He nodded his head and lowered his voice slightly. "I didn't know you liked leather /_that_/ much Seto…"

"What are you trying to imply?" Seto demanded.

"That you like leather a lot. Why, what else do you think I'm trying to imply?" He shook his head and frowned. "Some people are so strange about that sort of thing…"

"Right then, let's get going. I think we should try and go as far as we can before we do the Shadow Realm thing, it's best to spend as little time in there as possible." Marik said and the others agreed, waiting for Malik to make the first move.

xxxxxx

"I think when you told us what the border looked like Yami, you may have been trying to /_over_/ simplify things." Duke commented as the wall appeared into view, towering over them. "For instance, you didn't tell us that it was immense."

"I said it was big…" Yami pointed out with a laugh.

"Yes but /_big_/ just doesn't justify it. And there doesn't seem to be any people…" Duke added.

"That's because you only see the people when it's too late. They like to play with you first then capture you just when you think you're safe." Yami said cheerfully, not noticing the looks of panic passing on everyone's faces.

"Yami, shut up ok? It's going to be nice and easy to get over, isn't it?" Bakura growled and Yami frowned, looking over at him. It was then he noticed the look of terror on Ryou's face and grinned sheepishly.

"Of course it's going to be easy, we've got Malik!" Yami said, sighing in relief when Ryou seemed to cheer up at this. "Now you've just got to send us to the Shadow Realm." Instantly Ryou's face dropped again and he clung onto Bakura tightly. Yami shrugged his shoulders; there was just no pleasing some people…

"Yeah, I suppose I have to." He turned to Marik for some support. "How do I do this anyway? Are there any nasty side effects?"

"Only to us. You should be fine, as long as you don't go completely delirious on the power…" Marik replied, smiling.

"Is it going to be a lot then?"

"Just a little bit. But you'll be fine, maybe the power overflow will knock something out. I don't really know though…" He smiled again and gave him the Millennium Rod. "You will need this though."

((You had better take the Puzzle too; it'll probably only get left behind anyway.)) Yugi added and suddenly Malik stepped back away from him.

"Are you sure? I don't want to take it from you if it's not necessary."

((Millennium Items cannot be taken into the Shadow Realm, they just don't work. Anyway, if there is a power surge, there might be enough for you to use the Puzzle and maybe the Ring too.)) Yugi said, looking over at Ryou as he said this. Would Ryou understand?

"Would you like my Ring too Malik? I'm sure you could use it somehow." Ryou said, holding it out to him with a smile on his face.

"Thank you Ryou." He also took the Puzzle still being held out to him and stared at the golden Items, the energy seeming to lie just below the surface, as though they knew they were going to be used. He placed the Puzzle and Ring around his neck and held the Rod in his right hand, looking at the group with uncertainty. "So how do I do this?"

"I don't know, I don't really ever think about how I do something. I just think about it and it happens." Marik said and Malik did as he said, thinking about the Shadow Realm and everyone going there apart from him.

The area around them started to twist and get smaller as a small wind picked up, blowing leaves across them. Then out from the centre of the twist spewed darkness, covering everyone apart from Malik and soon they were gone, the Millennium Rod glowing. Malik turned to look at the border, his eyes shining a pure white and he grinned, his voice warped by the power.

"Watch out boys, I'm coming to get you…" With a cackle he started walking towards the border, leaving a trail of death in his wake, everything shrivelled up and black.

He could hear everything near him now, the rustling of the leaves and the people creeping behind him, surrounding him gradually. He grinned, this was going to be fun, leading them on, letting them believe they had him cornered until the right moment… It was a game of cat and mouse, only the cats were actually mice, they just didn't realise it yet… He pounced just as they did and as the bodies fell to the ground, instead of feeling guilty, he just felt the power of what he had. As Marik has feared, he was going completely delirious and by the time he realised, it would be too late. But in the end, there was no one else who would see him like this; he would never know the truth…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Duke stumbled around in the dark, unable to distinguish anything in the heavy weight that surrounded him. Then he heard a humming noise, as though a power source was turning on and then he was blinded by a light shining on him, exposing him and making him feel isolated, no one familiar nearby. He could hear things just beyond the light, creeping and getting closer, were they the monsters that Ryou was talking about? At any rate he didn't want to meet them so he looked to where the light was centring on. A simple wooden chair sat alone in the white glow and Duke inched towards it, wondering why it was the only thing here. Nevertheless he sat down in it, suddenly feeling protected from the things nearby and he could see bricks flickering in front of him, making a wall that surrounded him. He could see something else though, figures coming towards him. He knew them but somehow they had been warped by the Shadow Realm and so he waited nervously as they gradually became clearer.

"Good morning Worm your honour." Duke looked around in surprise, that was Yami's voice! But the person was nothing like him, the eyes, instead of being full of fire and life were dull and bland. He wore a black robe and somehow reminded Duke of a lawyer. He followed Yami's eye line and saw a tall stand on which a person was stood at the top, looking down at him. Was this the 'Worm'? He listened to Yami's words, wanting to know what was going on. "The crown will plainly show the prisoner who now stands before you was caught red handed showing feelings." Prisoner? Since when had he been a prisoner? And why was Yami saying that showing feelings was a crime? It soon became obvious to Duke that it wasn't Yami, it was just a shadow that was supposed to represent him. He knew it wasn't real so why wasn't it going away? He didn't want to know what was going to happen next… "Showing feelings of an almost human nature!" Yami yelled, causing unseen figures to gasp in astonishment. Duke felt like he was back in Domino, feeling the disgust of everyone there. But he had never done anything…apart from that one kiss. And the dreams of him and Tristan together, the fantasies… "This will not do." Yami added seriously and the 'Worm' considered his words for a moment.

"Call the schoolmaster!" He barked and Duke grew even more fearful than before. What was that supposed to mean? Who was the schoolmaster? But before he could give a thought to it, someone burst onto a scene, pacing back and forth in front of him.

"I always said he'd come to no good in the end your end your honour." Joey started. Joey? The least scholarly of the group was the 'school master'? Duke didn't understand the thinking behind that and didn't really want to either. "If they'd let me have my way I could've flayed him into shape!" Joey stabbed himself in the chest, the mortarboard nearly falling off in his anger. "But my hands were tied! The bleeding hearts and artists let him get away with murder!" By now he was screaming, spit flying everywhere and in the shadows people were nodding in agreement with him. "Let me hammer him today." He whispered, leaning towards the Worm, excitement filling his eyes. Duke didn't want to be hurt, he was nearly crapping himself in his fear.

"Crazy, toys in the attic I am crazy." Duke murmured quietly to himself, not sure where the words were coming from. "Truly gone fishing." He was finding it hard to control himself now, the panic filling him… "They must have taken my marbles away!" He turned to the audience, trying to get them to understand but they ignored him, as though he wasn't there.

"Crazy…" He heard someone hiss beside him and realised it was Ryou, clinging onto the arm of the chair, staring at him with a glint of madness in his eyes.

"Toys in the attic…" He looked down at the figure tugging at his trousers and saw Yugi, gradually climbing into his lap, head cocked to the side in interest.

"He is crazy." Marik agreed on the other side of Duke, leaning forward, his face barely an inch away as his breath tickled Duke's cheek.

Suddenly they backed away though, remaining nearby and Duke glanced at the new person in front of him, seeing a man wearing a dress and high heels. It was Tristan but he didn't look happy, in fact he looked livid.

"You little shit, you're in it now, I hope they throw away the key." He had never heard Tristan talk like this, before he had always been calm and sometimes slightly aloof. He had never got enthusiastic about telling someone what was wrong with them. They were doing it again… "You should have talked to me more often than you did, but /_no/_, you had to go your own way." He sounded just a scolding wife and Duke was being reprimanded for something he wasn't even sure he had done. "Have you broken any homes up lately?" Duke tried to reply but there was something pressed over his brain, making him unable to communicate his feelings to anyone but himself. Tristan suddenly spun around to face the Worm, causing Duke to jump in surprise but not before he noticed the look of loathing on Tristan's face. "Just five minutes Worm your honour, him and me alone." It sounded like a fight, Duke knew about Tristan's past with Joey and what they did to others but that was all gone now, or so he had thought…

"Babe…" He heard the voice from far away but it was getting closer now, the figure having long pale hair held back by a kerchief. Bakura…? "Come to mother baby, let me hold you in my arms." He was supposed to be his mum? He could understand that in a way, he had always liked Bakura, he /_had_/ helped him settle in right at the beginning of high school. But it was well known that Malik was his best friend, the one he cared about most, apart from Ryou of course… "But I never wanted him to get in any trouble, why'd he ever have to leave me?" Bakura wailed, sinking down on his knees seeming to beg to the audience. "Worm your honour let me take him home." He said, crawling towards the stand but soon he was disappearing…

"Crazy, over the rainbow I am crazy." Duke said, flopping forward in defeat. "Bars in the window…" He sounded frantic now, standing up and pacing around the wall, staring at it. "There must have been a door there in the wall when I came in!" He cried out in frustration, placing his hands on the shimmering barrier but finding nothing.

"Crazy…" Ryou grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards the chair and doing quite well, despite the fact that Duke was obviously stronger.

"Over the rainbow…" Yugi repeated his words, pacing around him as though he was some exhibit, touching him every so often, trying to work out what he was.

"He is crazy." Marik took his other arm and helped Ryou to place him back in the chair, ignoring Duke's struggling. He didn't want to face judgment…

"The evidence before the court is incontrovertible, there's no need for the jury to retire." The Worm was finally seen, Seto in a black robe and white wig, looking ghastly, like something out of a nightmare. "In all my years of judging, I have never heard before of someone more deserving the full penalty of the law." Seto continued, outraged at the pathetic creature before him. His voice grew deeper as he seemed to increase in size, looming over Duke as he shrank back. "The way you made them suffer, your exquisite wife and mother, fills me with the urge to DEFECATE!" He pointed to the side and Duke saw Tristan and Bakura crying, hugging each other for support. "Since, my friend, you have revealed you deepest fear, I sentence you to be exposed before your peers." No, he didn't want to see the creatures he knew that were in the shadows, he was scared; he wanted it all to go away… "Tear down the wall!"

"Tear down the wall." Yami agreed, suddenly appearing as he stood behind Duke, arms crossed with no emotion in his face.

"Tear down the wall!" Joey barked, cane in hand and he hit it threateningly against the ground, the sound travelling straight through Duke's spine.

"Tear down the wall…" Ryou giggled, spinning around the chair like a child, stroking Duke's arm once he had come to a stop, smiling wide eyed at him.

"Tear down the wall…" Yugi whispered, now sat in his lap, into his ear before licking it, his eyes still full of excitement.

"Tear down the wall…" Marik stood behind the chair, running his hands up and down Duke's chest, slipping them underneath his clothes…

"Tear down the wall!" Tristan said, glaring at Ryou, Yugi and Marik and they backed away grudgingly, still staring at Duke with want.

"Tear down…the…wall." Bakura said in between sobs, hiding his face behind his hands so he wouldn't have to see whatever was going to happen next.

"Tear down the wall." Now they were all saying it, their different emotions mingling and becoming monotonous as they repeated it, Duke closing his eyes and gasping, he wanted it all to go away now, he had had enough…

CRASH!

Bricks started to tumble down, the dust rising as they settled on the ground and the figures slowly started to disappear, leaving Duke alone with the monsters of the Shadow Realm, their breathing getting more excited as they smelt a soul reeked with fear…

"Please…help me…" The last thing Duke saw was claws and wings before he was surrounded by darkness…

xxxxxx

Malik traced the outline of the Puzzle lovingly, wondering what he should do now he had got past their stupid wall. Wall, there had been no challenge for him! But suddenly he heard something, making him falter slightly in his plan of mass destruction.

"Please…help me…" He recognised the voice and they sounded hurt… He saw a face too, green eyes and jet black hair…Duke. He was a friend and he had to do something to stop the pain. Thinking of everyone, he imagined them in front of him and smiled in relief when he heard nine bodies sit down on the ground. Looking at them though he frowned, they were full of fear, unable to do anything apart from stare at the ground.

"What happened?" He asked, slightly nervous when there was no movement.

"I didn't want to do it Kury, it made me…" Ryou suddenly said and he started sniffing quietly as Bakura took him in his arms.

"I know, I know. None of us wanted to…" He whispered, holding Ryou tightly.

"Tell me what happened, who made you do things against your will?" By now Malik was frustrated, he wasn't getting the answers he desperately wanted.

"The Shadow Realm…" Marik said, sidling up to him and holding his hand. "I'm sorry Malik, we had no control over what happened. It made me do…" His voice died down and Malik pulled him closer, setting him down on his lap.

"Don't worry about what you did, just tell me…" He murmured, taking his other hand. "I promise I won't get mad."

"I touched Duke, I put my hands on him…" Marik said, shaking slightly as he looked away from Malik, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Hey, don't be scared, I know it was against your will so it doesn't matter." Malik said to reassure Marik and he smiled, leaning against him. "But what else happened?"

So they told Malik what happened, each of them recounting their fears of doing things they weren't in control of, how they hurt Duke, how they could see the fear but were unable to prevent their actions and so stem the pain they were causing. Unlike Duke though, they had all seen the creatures lurking in the Shadow Realm, strange men and beasts, some with wings or claws and all of them desperate to get to the group. None of them questioned why it had been Duke in the chair and not one of the others, not seeming to realise the truth about Duke and his confusion over Tristan. He had also remained quiet on how he had felt and what he had said and Duke didn't really want to ask him about it, too embarrassed about his thoughts on him.

"So how did you get over the border then? Did you face a lot of trouble?" Seto asked once they had dissected the Shadow Realm incident as much as they wanted to and the others turned to Malik with interest.

"I don't…know really. I just remember sending you to the Shadow Realm and then hearing Duke's voice, the rest is a bit blurry. I know I was followed but not what happened to the people, how I managed to escape them. I don't think anyone else saw me though so hopefully they won't be looking around." Malik explained, trying to ignore the frown Marik was giving him, knowing that what he had said wasn't good enough. "But now that we're over you can have these back." He passed over the Millennium Items, noticing with slight worry that he wished he didn't have to, that he liked the feel of them in his hands. To keep his mind off of it, he took Marik's hands in his once more, squeezing them to reassure himself.

"That's a point, we should get moving and find somewhere to sleep for the night before they manage to catch up." Bakura announced and they stood up, looking towards a mountain path. "Maybe there's a cave we can sleep in."

xxxxxx

The group had agreed to take turns to watch for danger and so Seto was now sitting outside a cave on a small plateau that overlooked a forest of pine trees, the searchlights of the border occasionally flashing through the thick foliage. The night sky was clear, the stars shining with the moon, casting a silvery light on everything it touched. It was quite chilly but Seto's long coat kept him warm and he enjoyed feeling the cool breeze on him.

He looked at his watch and realised that his turn was now over and that Joey was next. He didn't know whether that had been done on purpose but he was willing to take advantage of it. They hadn't really talked since the scene in the clearing; in fact they had avoided each other. So now he could find out what was going on in Joey's head, as well as spend some time with him.

"Joey wake up, it's your watch." Seto whispered, shaking Joey's shoulder gently so as to not surprise him.

"Huh ¿Qué? Wha's happenin'?" Joey made several more similar strange noises until he had opened his eyes and sat up, facing Seto in the relative darkness of the cave. "Is it my watch already? I've only just got to sleep!"

"Sorry…" Seto wasn't really sure what else to say but was surprised when Joey laughed.

"Don't worry about it, there's nothing anyone could have done. It's just me having a bit of a moan, that's all." Joey stood up quickly, taking a moment to get used to his surroundings before looking back at Seto. "Thank you for waking me up." He started to walk towards the entrance of the cave slowly, realising that Seto wasn't going to sleep that in fact, he was staring right at him. "Err…Seto?"

"This may sound strange but I can't get to sleep. Is it alright if I stay outside with you?" He asked hesitantly, hoping that Joey might say yes, although it was doubtful…

"Yeah, I don't see a problem with that." Joey shrugged his shoulders and Seto could feel himself leaping for joy mentally although he remained solemn on the outside. "We'd better get going before we wake someone else up."

Seto nodded his head in agreement and followed Joey outside where he waited for him to sit down before he did the same beside him, not too close but the distance of a friend so that he could talk to him. They stared out at the horizon in silence, not sure of what to say that wouldn't provoke a talk on what was supposed to be happening between them, if there was anything going on.

"Don't you think that stars are the most amazing things ever?" Joey sighed and looked up. "It's so clear tonight, you can see loads of them." He sat up slightly and pointed into the sky. "Look, there's Orion and the twins, Sirius and the Great Bear…" He made lines with his hand but it meant little to Seto: he didn't know any of the names or where they were. He always found the astrology side of physics quite boring and had never really had any other reason to look into it. Seeming to read Seto's mind, Joey shook his head. "Do you not know any of them?"

"No, I've never really thought about them before." He admitted, feeling slightly ashamed for some reason.

"Yugi's grandpa told me about them when Tristan and I were camping in Yugi's back garden once. He showed us how to find our way and the stories behind them all. I'd never really appreciated them until then and then you find out at school what they really are…" He paused and he seemed to sag slightly. "It kinda destroyed my dreams really. All those stories aren't really true, they didn't form the shapes for a particular reason, it's just whatever someone happens to be able to see in them."

"Tell me the stories behind them then." Seto said out of the blue, causing Joey to glance at him strangely. "I never really listened to that part of school anyway, it wasn't relative to my life so I'll believe them for what they are." He leant his head back against the rock, at the same time shifting slightly closer to Joey. He considered his words for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Well then I should start off with Orion, the hunter. He's one of the most recognisable." Joey pointed his finger into the sky once more. "See, there's his arms and legs and his belt…"

"No, I don't see." Seto said, being truthful. He couldn't make out the shapes; he just saw lots of dots.

"Look, it's right here." Joey shifted so that he was now sitting in the gap between Seto's legs, taking his arm and tracing the shape with Seto's finger. "The arms…and the legs…and the belt." He put Seto's arm back down and leaned against him gingerly, as though he wasn't sure he wanted things to go like this.

"Oh yeah, I see it now." Seto said to make Joey feel better, to make him feel that he was putting himself in this situation and he was thankful for it. Which he was. He could feel Joey's body gently brushing against his own and it took a lot of effort to not put his arms around him and drag him closer. He needed to get his trust… "So what is his story then?"

"He was one of the sons of Poseidon, the god of the sea in Ancient Greece. It's said that he was so tall that he could stand in the deepest oceans with his feet on the bed and his head above the waves. He was a hunter but was blinded in a quarrel until the sun god Helios healed him with his radiance. There are different versions as to how he died but one story says that Eos, goddess of the dawn, fell in love with him and it was so strong that it caused divine jealousy. In the end he was shot by Artemis on command of the other gods and he was raised to the stars to form the constellation." Joey stopped talking and looked up at the sky. "Don't you think that's really sad? The only thing they could have done was to kill him…"

"It is…" Seto murmured. #_And I hope I never have to do anything like that._# He added to himself, unconsciously bringing Joey closer to him.

"Seto?" Joey had told himself that he wasn't going to let Seto do anything like this but it felt so right, his body melting into Seto's, becoming one with him.

"I missed you so much…" He murmured, smiling as he felt Joey put his arms around him. He looked down at Joey and saw a flash of confusion pass over his face. "I'll never hurt you again, I promise." Seto stroked Joey's face with the back of his hand and finally he responded, returning his smile.

He turned around and pushing himself up onto his knees, draped his arms around Seto's neck before leaning in and kissing him. He stopped in surprise when he felt Seto open his mouth; he was the one who was always in control… Quickly taking advantage of this situation, he slipped his tongue in, deepening the kiss as Seto pulled him onto his lap.

#_Your skin  
__Oh yeah your skin and bones  
__Turn into something beautiful  
__And you know  
__You know I love you so  
__You know I love you so_#

#_Look at the stars  
__Look how they shine for you  
__And all the things that you do_#

"I love you Joey…" Seto whispered in his ear, his breath tickling Joey and causing him to screech, flinching away from the sensation.

"That tickles!" His face scrunched up for a second before he became serious, staring at Seto with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "I love you too…"

Joey rested his head against Seto's chest, intertwining their fingers and they watched the night pass by, the stars becoming brighter still until it was time for the next watch, now lying together on the ground, Malik smiling just slightly as he sat down outside.

* * *

Yep, ending was odd and short and stuff but then you should expect that by now, this is me we're walking about here! Hmm, let's see if I can find any notes for today…

1. Yep, the Trial thing was pretty random and as for the reason why Duke was in the spotlight…well I just thought I hadn't done a lot on him yet so this would be a good chance to.

2. And before you moan, yes I know you can't see any of the stars mentioned in the Northern hemisphere in July (roughly where they are now) but I forgot, as usual.

3. Yeah, there were quite a few odd things today and Ryou's behaviour may have been slightly over the top but I'm trying to put the point across that he's 17 with a mental age of roughly 7.

Anyway, can't do too many notes or I'll put everyone off! Please review and I'll see you soon for the next chapter/episode/part thingy.

S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.


	10. Time and the Changes it brings

Hello again and as you can tell from the title, the group finally realise how long they've been away. It's all to do with an old face they meet… But I won't spoil what's going to happen so onto the replies!

**Lia Xaragi** – Yay, you know the theme tune! And don't worry, I appreciate all comments, whether they're complements or criticisms! Good luck with the fan club, I'm not sure how many members you'll have though… I'm glad you liked what happened last chapter but I think you can only truly appreciate the Trial scene when you listen to the song that the lines are taken from (it is a brilliant song, The Trial by Pink Floyd). Glad to know you found it freaky though! But remember…I love long reviews! They make me happy because it's nice to know that people have lots of things to say about the story. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one. You'll finally find out what's happened to Téa.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own anything affiliated with Yu-Gi-Oh, including characters and plot. However, I do own the story and two OCs! But you'll find out more about them in the chapter/episode/part thingy, as they'll become quite important.

**Warning**: The start of the psychological stuff (which has been researched) means that you might get confused. So if you get confused easily then…well I hope it makes sense soon.

**Note**: "Blah" is speaking, #_blah_# is thinking and songs /_blah_/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between Yugi and Yami. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.

So, some psychological stuff, two OCs and an old face! Hmm, this is going to be very interesting…

* * *

**Chapter nine: Time and the Changes it brings **

"Come on guys, it's time to get up." This was the greeting Seto and Joey got the next morning from Malik, who looked bleary eyed at having just been up for the last three hours. Joey frowned as he groaned, feeling a lot warmer than he should have done lying in a cave with not a lot of layers on. Then he suddenly remembered Seto. He smiled, turning into a grin when he felt a pair of arms tighten around him.

"Morning love." He saw icy blue eyes staring at him and reached up, kissing him briefly before sitting up properly. He opened his mouth to reply but closed it again, seeing the others were all awake and watching them intently.

"At last! Now we can get moving!" Malik said huffily, throwing his hands in the air before winking at them. "Not that it's not great that you're back together again and all that." He added as an afterthought.

"Uh…" Joey was ready to sink into a nicely positioned hole in the ground, not used to anyone talking about their relationships so openly.

((Let's go then, I think I saw a town not too far from here.)) Trust Yugi to always save his ass… He took this opportunity to stand up and try and calm himself down before following them out of the cave.

They stood for a moment; staring at the wall they had overcome the night before, almost hidden in the light of day by the surrounding forest. Yugi then pointed out the town and they started to make their way to a path which led towards it, a small break in the sea of trees…

"Hey, what are we going to do once we get there? I mean, we're going to need somewhere to stay and all that…" Ah, the question which no one had been brave enough to ask so far. But now Yami had brought the subject up and it wasn't something they could afford to ignore for any longer. There seemed to be a collective sigh as they tried to find an answer.

"Well, it's been over a year since it all happened so it may be safe enough for me to try and get onto the system. I might be able to do something about our accounts and hopefully we can at least take enough out to last us a little while until we work out what to do." Bakura suddenly suggested and Seto looked at him in interest.

"Could you do that from a public computer?"

"It might take a little while but I'm willing to give it a try. We might even be able to find out what they've got on us if we're lucky." He shrugged his shoulders. "If would have to be an up to date computer though, something with Internet access."

"Well, there should be an Internet café somewhere around here. If you and Seto work on that, we can get them something to eat and then look for some local hotels." Duke said, indicating the five teens they had recently rescued.

"Goody, I haven't hacked onto anything for ages! Especially your system Seto." Bakura rubbed his hands together eagerly. "I can't wait!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Seto sat in the chair next to Bakura, idly aware of the argument Yami was having with Malik about the sensibilities of giving chocolate to people who hadn't eaten properly for a long time. He turned back to the screen, noticing with slight worry that Bakura has an almost inhuman grin on his face. Obviously he looked forward to showing Seto how easily it was to hack onto his own system. Not that he really cared anymore, the company wasn't even his. He didn't have anything left…

"Here we go, the details of your various accounts. Which one do you want me to fiddle around with Seto or does it not matter?" Bakura quickly realised he wasn't listening. "Seto, are you paying attention?"

"I don't have anything left now, it's all gone…" He mumbled, staring down into his lap.

"You've only just realised that now! Yes Seto, we don't have anything at all but we can't do anything to change it unless you help me. You're the one who's got the most money so it's important we get it out. Now, which one is it?" Bakura's sharp tone shook Seto out of his reverie and he glanced over the screen.

"Third one down."

"Thank you Seto." Bakura said sincerely, fingers flying across the keyboard. "I'm sorry for snapping at you but we don't have time to think about what we don't have anymore. We've got them back and that's all that matters to me. I'm sorry you don't have your company, I know you really wanted to take it over as soon as you could but now you can start up your own one, you know, like the one you talked about in the swimming pool. And it'll be better because everything you'll have done will be your own work…"

"Yes, you're right. Thanks for telling me that." Seto smiled warmly at Bakura and he smiled back. "Are you having any trouble?"

"No, not really. I think they seem to have forgotten you had your own account, maybe they assumed you'd just try for the main one?"

"No, they just didn't realise I have it. I didn't tell anyone because I was going to use the money for a take over bid."

"Ah, sneaky Mr Kaiba. I get a feeling you will one day be a fine CEO." Bakura glanced over the writing on the screen and frowned. "Apparently your account is frozen…but only because they got the pin number wrong three times." Seto smirked at this.

"Wouldn't surprise me, they were all idiots at the company."

"Then all I have to do is reset the counter on your account…" He did so and turned to Seto. "Do you want to go now while I work on finding out what's going on with our files?"

Seto agreed to this and he quickly left the café, noticing with slight amusement that there were five empty plates covered in chocolate crumbs sitting in front of five very sick looking teenagers. Obviously chocolate had not been a good idea…

xxxxxx

"Well I found out several interesting things…" Seto was now back with the others in the café, along with Bakura. "They know we're missing and there's a reward for capturing us, only if we're dead though."

"What? A reward? Are they that bothered about us?" Yami exclaimed before grimacing slightly. "This makes things slightly more awkward."

"Luckily I don't think it's something that the whole of America is going to know about so I don't think we have to worry about it too much for the moment. What we really have to concern ourselves with is finding a hotel to stay in and then once we're clean, we're going to look for this address." Bakura laid out the sheet of printed paper on the table and the others glanced at it, wondering what it was about.

"What's there then?" Duke asked and Bakura smiled slightly, pointing to the first line of it. "Téa Simpson…I don't understand, why is she important?"

"Because her maiden name is Gardner. She is now married to a Mr David Simpson." Bakura said triumphantly and instantly there was excitement around the table.

"Seriously? How do you know this is her?"

"I looked up her file. She's been deleted from the Domino system, which means they were forced to leave. Obviously they've set up home here and I was thinking we could try and find her, talk to her-"

"But what if she doesn't want to? We could just be bringing back bad memories for her…" Yami pointed out and Bakura nodded his head in understanding.

"I thought that too but we could at least try. I mean, there's no harm in that. But we should leave it for today, we need to clean up first."

Agreeing in this, the group set off towards the hotel. Yugi and the others had hardly said anything at all and they were worried about this, so they decided to use tonight as an opportunity to talk to them properly. After all, they hadn't really had a say in any of this, they had just sat there and watched the five of them talk around them. But they were going to make sure they understood before tomorrow…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Kury, what we doing?" Ryou asked as they sat in what was going to be their room for the rest of the week. It was quite nice actually, with an en suite bathroom and two fairly large beds with the usual TV and other electrical appliances.

"We're going to give you a bath-"

"A bath?" Ryou repeated in childish awe and Bakura nodded his head.

"Yes, and then we're going to look for Téa tomorrow. Do you remember Téa?" Bakura watched as Ryou screwed his face up in concentration before hesitantly nodding his head.

"Little things. I know what she looks like, she used to be a friend…" Ryou beamed, proud of having remembered this seemingly insignificant fact and Bakura laughed, nodding in agreement.

"That's right, she was a friend. Hopefully we can be friends with her again." Bakura explained before standing up and stretching. "But now it's time for a bath."

"Eek, a bath!" Ryou screeched before attempting to run away, although Bakura noticed a glint in his eyes. He obviously wanted this to be a game. Bakura was painfully reminded of the game of 'It' they had played so long ago now but pushed this aside, there was no point in thinking about it.

"Rar, the bath monster is coming to get you!" Bakura strode after Ryou with big steps, waving his arms around madly and Ryou shrieked loudly, backing away from him. But suddenly he stopped and crossed his arms.

"You don't scare me!" He leapt for Bakura, making a war like cry. "I'll defeat the nasty bath monster!"

Soon both of them were lying on the floor, Ryou giggling madly as he rested on top of Bakura. He put his arms around his neck and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of Bakura and the rhythm of his chest moving up and down.

"Kury, you won't let monsters get me, will you?" He asked quietly and Bakura lifted his head up with difficulty in order to see the emotions on Ryou's face. He didn't look too scared though…maybe he just wanted reassurance.

"Of course I won't Ryou, you'll be safe with me." Bakura said, stroking his hair lightly. Ryou seemed pleased with this and closed his eyes again, resting his head on his chest.

"Bath monster?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you take me to your lair now please?"

Bakura smiled at the cuteness of Ryou before sitting up and carrying him into the bathroom, holding him tightly to make sure he knew Bakura was telling the truth. He would never let anyone hurt his angel…

xxxxxx

((Yami, what do you think Téa will say when she sees us?)) Yugi asked, using Yami as a rest while they sat together on the bed.

"I don't know. I just hope she'll let us talk to her, just so we can make sure she's all right. I mean, if she's been taken off the system she must have done something. But she's got an address here so she might be ok, maybe she was able to settle down…" Yami speculated and then shrugged his shoulders. "But there's no point in worrying about it, we'll find out for sure tomorrow. We should have baths and then go to bed."

((A bath? Yami, I don't want to…)) Yugi sat up properly and shook his head almost violently. ((I don't want to be alone…))

"But you won't be, I'll be here. No one's going to get you…"

((But what if I need help? You won't hear me.)) Yugi whined and Yami frowned, wondering what all the fuss was about. He wouldn't be that far and didn't Yugi trust him to make sure he was safe? ((Yes, I do…but…I'm so scared that if I'm hurt, you won't be there…)) He paused and Yami leant closer, willing for Yugi to finish his sentence. ((Like the last time.))

Yami recoiled away from this last statement, he had never realised that Yugi had so much hate underneath everything else that he had lost his faith in Yami to look after him and that he was alone in all of this. Yami stood up, facing away from Yugi as he tried to work out what to do. Yugi obviously couldn't be reassured and apart from that, what else could he do? It all suddenly seemed pointless…

((I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that…))

"No, you're right. I wasn't there to protect you and there's nothing I can do or say to make you realise that I'll be here right next to you to make sure you're ok. I'm sorry I can't do that for you…"

((It doesn't matter Yami, just be here for me now.)) Yugi got up and wrapped his arms around Yami. ((Sit with me please, while I have a bath?)) Yami could feel the blush on his face and was pretty sure Yugi was reacting in the same way, which only served to make Yami even more embarrassed.

"If you're sure…"

((Yes Yami. I love you, and I trust you too.)) A smile crawled its way onto Yami's face and he nodded his head, taking Yugi's hand in his.

"I love you too and I'm glad you trust me enough to do this…" For some unknown reason, this made Yugi laugh as he skipped off to the bathroom, dragging Yami behind him.

xxxxxx

"That feels better! I can't remember the last time I was near water that clean…" Tristan said, laughing at the slightly worried look on Duke's face as he lay sprawled on the bed. He shrugged his shoulders before collapsing onto the bed too, staring up at the ceiling. "Is there anything on TV?"

"I don't know, I haven't really looked yet…" Duke replied, automatically lifting up the remote and pressing the power button. "Are you not tired then?"

"No, not really. But maybe the TV will send me off to sleep…" Duke still didn't know about the real reason why Tristan was never tired but he wasn't going to tell him anytime soon.

"Maybe you're right…"

Soon images flickered on the screen, all of them bright and glaring against their faces as Duke flicked through the channels, trying to find something that wasn't screaming out of the appliance. They soon settled on an old black and white film, one of the many that seemed to revolve around two people who wanted to be together but for some reason, weren't allowed to (Note from Chen: You know what I'm talking about, they're always in scenes in films where someone's in a hotel watching something completely random on the TV). Duke hardly noticed the fact that he and Tristan seemed to be in a similar situation, more concerned about falling asleep. He could have told Tristan to turn the TV off but he realised that he needed it to be on so he shrugged it off, figuring his brain would shut itself down when it couldn't cope anymore.

This didn't seem to take too long and soon it was just Tristan staring blankly at the screen, trying to be interested enough in what was happening to want to see what the ending was and so put off sleep for a little longer. He knew he couldn't fight against it forever but the less time he spent sleeping, the chance of 'it' happening was less. He didn't think about 'it' too much, it just made him more frightened than he already was. He knew that Duke was asleep and taking one of the pillows, placed it under his head before straightening him out slightly so he wouldn't wake up with back pain.

Now that this was done, Tristan just had to wait and see how long he could keep himself awake for. He just needed it to be long enough so he wouldn't have to see 'it', waking up drenched in sweat and shaking uncontrollably…

xxxxxx

Joey stared at the ceiling, for some reason unable to get to sleep, although he knew he was tired and he had laid here long enough for his brain to switch off. Sighing, he rolled onto his side, only to be faced with a pair of blue eyes staring at him while the eyebrows were furrowed in concern. Wondering how long Seto had been awake for, Joey quickly turned away, embarrassed that he had been watching him toss and turn.

"Joey, are you ok?" Seto whispered and somehow, this just made it worse. What if he kept him awake every single night?

"Yeah, I just can't get to sleep…" Joey cursed himself slightly for saying that, the fact that he couldn't get to sleep was blindingly obvious to anyone who had a small amount of sense.

"Want to talk about it?" Now this Joey did not expect. He didn't think Seto would say something like that, and be sincere about it at the same time.

"I don't know why I can't sleep, maybe I'm just worried."

"About tomorrow? Are you afraid of what Téa might say when she sees us?" Joey nodded his head, unconsciously shifting closer to Seto so his head was in the crook of his neck.

"What if they brainwashed her so that she thinks we're evil, like they all believe? She may not even remember that we used to be her best friends, all the things we did together…" Joey's voice slightly wavered as he said this last part and Seto suddenly remembered that they had been friends before he had ever met them. And not just him but Yugi and Tristan too. They were probably a lot more worried than he or Bakura or any of the others could comprehend. But then he remembered Marik…

"Then we'll have to keep trying. We'll break whatever they did to her, just like Malik did for Marik." Seto felt Joey hold his breath for a moment before nodding his head. "I don't know how much Marik told you about what happened between them but Malik did, while we were going to find you. Things were pretty bad at the beginning, there were a lot of arguments and crying but they managed to sort it out and we will too. We won't leave her until she remembers us…"

"Thank you Seto." Joey sat up slightly and kissed on briefly on the lips. "I feel better now…"

"As long as you're happy…" Seto murmured, remembering back to what Bakura had said in the café. #_He was right, all that matters is that Joey is back with me…_#

"Are you happy Seto? Don't you ever think about what you had back then and that all you have now is…well, not a lot." Joey asked in his usual blunt manner and this brought everything into sharp context.

"I have you and that's a lot. You give me so many things a company can't."

"But still, don't you ever wonder what it would have been like if you had managed to take the company? You would have had everything then…"

"No, I would have driven you away and then it would have meant very little. That sort of thing's not important to me anymore."

"That's a lie and you know it Seto! You wanted to run that company more than anything else and being in charge of everything is still important to you. Are you not even going to try and do anything?" Seto felt stung by Joey's words, knowing that although they were the truth, Joey could so easily throw away the importance that Seto placed in him. "Seto, the fact that you love me as much as you do means so much to me because I have so much love for you too but I want you to be happy. Please understand…"

"I know…I do want to do something, to set up my own company." Joey smiled when he heard this, knowing what would happen next. Seto was always very guarded in showing his feelings but when it came to business, there was no stopping him. It was one of his passions and Joey felt pleased that he was allowed to be one too. "I had had a lot of ideas for Kaiba Corp when I was going to take it over, to expand and branch out. But now I can focus on them properly…"

Joey continued to listen as Seto explained what he was going to do, laughing when Seto almost smacked his head against the headboard in his excitement. He was soon finished talking though and once Joey was satisfied Seto had got everything out of his system, he yawned loudly and settled down to sleep, pretty sure this time he wouldn't be awake for too long…

xxxxxx

"NOOOO!"

This scream pierced through Malik's sleep and his eyes shot open, wondering what the hell had made that noise. Or rather, who the hell. Quickly realising the warm body that had been lying next to him was now sat bolt upright, Malik soon came to the conclusion it had been Marik who had yelled so loudly. Another nightmare…

"Shush Marik, nothing's going to-" He stopped abruptly, suddenly noticing that the end of the Millennium Rod was a lot more closer to him than he would have liked. In fact, the point was currently digging into his neck and in particular, his jugular. #_Time to take things slowly…_#

"You! Y-You…you…" Marik seemed out of breath and confused, as though he had just seen something he couldn't believe. "You…k-killed…them. You…killed them all…" Marik's voice faded away for a moment as he shook his head. "YOU KILLED THEM!" The Millennium Rod, which had been lifted slightly, was back with a vengeance and Malik held his breath.

"What are you talking about Marik, who have I killed?" He said this slowly and quietly so Marik would have to listen to him to understand his words.

"All of those people…all dead…"

"Marik, please explain to me what I have done." Malik repeated, now desperately concerned.

"STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" The Rod shook slightly due to Marik's anger and Malik's eyes widened, hoping it wouldn't slip and accidentally slice his throat. "When we were in the Shadow Realm, you murdered them all, everything died because you wanted it to! I can't believe you did it. I…just can't."

"Marik, you have to believe me when I say I can't remember! Please, I wouldn't have done it if I had realised. You know I wouldn't have hurt anyone on purpose…" Malik pleaded, aware that the effects of this could put a serious strain on their relationship. But it appeared that Marik wasn't listening anyway, a sudden horrible thought having just occurred to him.

"What if you do the same thing to me…? You…want to kill me too, don't you?" Marik released Malik from the end of the Rod, scuttling away to the other side of the bed. "You're waiting until I fall asleep and then you'll take the Rod, you'll hurt me with it, cause me pain and then you'll rip out my heart and…" Marik couldn't continue, starting to sob in fear.

"Marik, I don't want to hurt you! I love you too much, you must realise that!" Malik sat up and tried to crawl across to Marik but was beaten back by the waving of the Rod in his face.

"Stay away from me! J-Just…" His voice died away as he suddenly dropped the Item, collapsing onto the bed as his sobs completely overtook him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, so, so sorry…"

Malik slid across the bed quickly and took Marik in his arms, rocking him back and forth gently, trying to soothe him with his words of comfort. He felt Marik's hands grip his back tightly as he continued to cry and Malik sighed, wondering if his imprisonment had caused this recent erratic behaviour in Marik. It had happened a couple of times before: Marik would get extremely paranoid about something and once he had voiced his fear there was no letting go until he broke down like he was now.

"Shush, it doesn't matter. Just get some sleep, we're going to be busy tomorrow." Marik looked up, smiling shyly in thanks.

"I'm glad we're together again Malik, I missed you a lot." He whispered, burying his face in Malik's shoulder. "I love you…"

"And I love you too."

Marik settled down against Malik, pulling the covers a little bit closer before briefly kissing him, afterwards sighing in happiness. He closed his eyes and Malik watched as his breathing slowed, kissing him on the forehead before closing his eyes too, the stress of what had just happened causing him to drift off quickly…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Wow, this is so weird. We're finally going to see her again…" Joey murmured, looking around the streets in awe. He hadn't seen proper civilisation for a year and a half now and the situation was almost surreal.

"It's weird just seeing all these things again. I mean, houses and cars and things like that." Tristan added, pointing to said objects. "I suppose it's quite easy to forget when you're isolated from them…"

"But we're all here now and we can finally get on with our lives. We can do all those things we said we were going to do!" Yami exclaimed, suddenly remembering not just the conversation at the swimming pool but countless others, full of hopes and dreams of a brighter future.

"We have to find Téa first though, as soon as we can work out where we're going." Bakura said at the front of the group and everyone stared at him in surprise.

"You mean you don't know?"

"No, not really." He replied flippantly, glancing over his shoulder with a smile on his face. "Don't tell me you're all following me?" Taking the silence to mean yes, he laughed. "Well it's lucky I really do know where I'm going now, isn't it? Otherwise we'd be wandering around this place all day!"

"You mean you were joking?" Malik growled as he sped up to reach Bakura at the front. "That wasn't funny!"

"I know. I was just wondering how long it was going to be before somebody asked where we were." Bakura explained as they continued down the road. "Ryou's using the Ring to locate her."

They suddenly noticed that Ryou's head was bowed forward, as though staring at something in his hands and it was now obvious why he hadn't said anything before. Bakura's words had also served as a reminder of what they were doing here in the first place and they wondered what had happened with her. And who this 'David Simpson' was as well, apart from the fact that he was married to Téa.

"We're nearly there now. Anyone got a plan?" Bakura said, stopping at the corner of a street and turning to face them. "I assume we're not all going to go at once at least."

"I think it should be just Yugi, Joey and Tristan who go first of all. I mean, they know her best." Seto suggested and the others nodded in agreement. "Are you ok with that?"

They nodded their heads in assent and the group continued forward, Bakura keeping a close eye on Ryou in case something happened to him. Silence filled the air, everyone buried too deeply in their thoughts as cars swished past and the Sun continued to climb the sky. It was only when Ryou suddenly stopped that everyone realised that it was now early afternoon and they were all tired and hungry. Bakura stared at Ryou, expecting him to say something but when he volunteered nothing, Bakura stepped forward and shook Ryou slightly.

"Are we at Téa's house Ryou?" Ryou looked up then, his large eyes seeming to gaze farther into the distance as he nodded his head.

"Over there." He pointed to a house across the street and everyone turned to Joey, Tristan and Yugi, waiting for them to react.

"Well...here goes nothing." Joey said quietly, moving to the edge of the kerb so he could see any oncoming traffic before striding across the road, Tristan and Yugi running to catch up.

((Joey, what if this doesn't work? What if...?)) Yugi's voice died away and Joey stopped, turning to face the both of them.

"Then we'll keep trying. We're not going to give up on her, just like Malik didn't give up on Marik!" Joey said cheerfully, repeating what Seto had said to him. "I know you're worried Yugi but it's going to be ok! Everything always works out in the end."

Cheered up immensely by Joey's words, Yugi smiled and stepped onto the path that led up to the door, Tristan and Joey at his shoulders. They looked around, noticing the neat flower beds and open windows, allowing the net curtains to float in and out freely. Stopping in front of varnished wood, Joey quickly leaned over and pressed the door bell before one of them could change their mind, watching and waiting for some sign of movement inside.

Abruptly, the door was yanked open and they stared at the young girl standing there, glasses perched on her nose while her blonde hair was held back in two bunches. She studied them for a moment before stepping back slightly and clearing her throat.

"Hello, can I help you at all?" Her voice sounded very authoritive for one so young and they wondered if they were at the right place. After all, Téa wouldn't have kids, would she?

"Yes, we might have got the wrong house. Do you know anyone called Téa and if so, would you be able to tell us where she is?" Tristan explained and she narrowed her eyes slightly, glancing quickly into the house. "She's a friend of ours."

"Hmm, I haven't seen you before but you look like you're telling the truth…" She paused and considered what to do. "Wait here a minute while I go and talk to her."

They nodded their heads in understanding and watched as she shut the door slightly, hurrying into the house where she started talking to someone. They overheard small parts of the conversation, laughing slightly at the descriptions the person was given of them. There was a pause and suddenly they could see someone else rushing towards the door, someone who looked very familiar…

"Yugi? Joey? Tristan?" She hadn't changed much over the fifteen months, not outwardly anyway. Her eyes betrayed this though, they were more lined than they should have been, the sparkle in them dulled slightly. They seemed to light up now though as she took the three men in for a moment before she flung herself at them, hugging them all tightly in her grasp. "I never thought I'd see you guys again…" She whispered before standing back, looking at them closely. "Say something…" She laughed nervously but relaxed slightly when Joey grinned and laughed.

"Err…hello Téa!" He opened his arms wide as though presenting himself. "We thought we'd just drop by and see if our old buddy Téa was still around, you know, see if she still recognises us…"

"How could I not, you haven't changed a bit!" She said, rolling her eyes. "But what about you two, are you ok?" She asked, turning to Tristan and Yugi.

"Oh yeah, I'm great! I just couldn't get a word in edgeways thanks to Mr motor mouth here." Tristan explained, pointing at Joey who mock glared at him in return.

"And you…Yugi?" Téa seemed hesitant, surprised that her small friend hadn't said anything yet.

((I'm…doing good.)) Yugi said, although he sounded miserable. He made no attempt to get her to understand what he had just said and she frowned slightly, turning to Joey and Tristan in confusion.

"He says he's doing good." Joey quickly supplemented and Téa nodded, slightly uneasy.

"Oh…ok…" She looked around desperately, trying to think of something to say. Then she suddenly noticed a rather obvious difference in them. "Hey, what about everyone else…" she paused, biting her lip. "They did make it, didn't they?"

"Yeah, they're on the other side of the road. We thought it would be better if you didn't open the door to ten people standing here, waiting for you." Tristan said casually and she nodded her head.

"Well you'd all better come in and tell me everything that's happened." She suddenly said and instantly Yugi turned around and started walking down the path.

((I'll go and get them.)) He explained shortly before disappearing across the road.

"Erm…what's happened to Yugi? Why won't he talk to me? Does he not like me?" Téa asked desperately and Joey smiled sadly, shaking his head the same time.

"We've been through quite a lot and it's affected us all pretty badly. Yugi doesn't talk now, he just communicates with the Puzzle. It's just lucky that most of us have been able to hear what he's saying." Joey shrugged his shoulders. "But we're all here now and we're going to try and settle down…somehow."

"Well I'm sure we'll be able to help you." She said cheerfully, allowing them to enter the house once the others had all arrived.

Greetings and hugs soon resonated through the house as Téa welcomed everyone, smiling and laughing as she saw all of her friends together once more. Finally when things had calmed down slightly, she led them all into her living room where the girl from before was, watching them all warily as they all sat down. Téa soon noticed this and laughed nervously, wondering how to explain this.

"Err, Rebecca, these people are all friends of mine who I haven't seen for a very long time…" She started and the girl nodded her head in understanding.

"Are they from Domino like you and Dave?"

"Yes, they are." Satisfied with this, Rebecca decided to leave the room so they could talk and once she had gone, Téa turned back to the others. "Rebecca's one of our foster kids. She's only eight but she's very bright, sometimes too much…" She watched the shocked expressions of everyone and shrugged her shoulders. "But let's not worry about me for now. I want to know how you managed to get out!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So far, Seto, Bakura, Malik, Duke and Yami had gone through their story of how they managed to find the others and were now taking a break while Téa was making them all something to drink. When that was done, she came back in and passed the mugs filled with various substances around, desperate to hear what had happened next. Maybe some of them would start talking then, it felt weird to see them all so quiet. But maybe that was to be expected…

"So what happened when you got there? Did you have a lot of trouble finding them?" Téa asked as soon as it was polite to. She was therefore rather surprised when Yugi abruptly stood up and stormed out of the room. "Yugi!" She went to stand up then thought better of it and slumped down in her chair again. "Was it something I did or said?"

"No Téa, none of this is your fault. I'll go and find him, see what's wrong." Yami stood up and followed the direction Yugi had gone in, hoping that he hadn't strayed too far.

"Actually Téa is it ok if me and Ryou go outside for a while too? It's just that Ryou's getting a bit fidgety and I don't want him being a nuisance." Bakura suddenly said and unsure of what to say, Téa nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm going too." Marik added.

"Well just go left when you leave this room and if you go into the kitchen, there's an open door that will lead you outside." Téa explained and nodding his head in thanks, Bakura led Ryou and Marik towards the garden.

Once they had gone, Téa turned to the others, a look of desperate sadness on her face. She didn't understand why they had all suddenly left and still thought it was her fault. They smiled to reassure her.

"We should probably tell you what happened when we found them, maybe then you'll understand some things…"

xxxxxx

"Yugi, please tell me what's wrong." Yami had eventually found Yugi sitting outside on a bench, staring into the small pond they had and the fish swimming back and forth. He didn't reply though and Yami sat down next to him, lifting him and placing him on his lap. "Is it because you can't talk to Téa?"

Yugi looked up at Yami, staring at him for a second before glancing away again, sobbing loudly. As soon as Yami heard this, he hugged Yugi close to him, telling him that it was going to be ok, not wanting to see his little sunshine cry. He felt hands clinging onto his jacket while tears made his skin wet and so Yami started stroking his back gently, trying to soothe him. It worked and soon the tears had subsided although Yugi still looked very unhappy.

But then they were interrupted by a voice, or rather, three of them. Glancing up, they saw Ryou, Bakura and Marik stepping outside together, locking eyes with them for a moment before they were distracted by Ryou.

"Kury, fishies! I wanna see the fishies!" He grabbed Bakura's hand and tried to drag him closer but soon stopped when Bakura shook his head. "But…why not?" He said, sniffing quietly and Bakura sighed, looking down slightly so he was staring directly into his eyes.

"Ryou, Yami and Yugi are having a serious talk with each other so we have to leave them alone, ok?" Ryou nodded his head, cheering up slightly. "We'll look at the fishies later, ok?"

"Ok Kury." Ryou paused and glanced over at Yami and Yugi. "How come they aren't talking?"

"They're just thinking now." Ryou seemed to accept this and stepped away from them, turning to look at the flowers trailing up a piece of trellis. "Good boy." He rubbed Ryou's hair affectionately before walking away, trying to stop himself from laughing as Ryou squealed in delight at the flowers.

((How does he do it?)) Yami smiled when he heard Yugi's voice again and twisted his head to look at him. ((How do you think he copes, knowing that Ryou doesn't remember anything that happened between them? They had been together for so long…))

"Because he would do anything for Ryou, he is everything to him." Yami paused, thinking back to conversations they had had before. "Every time the Ring showed us the way, he would just be smiling for ages afterwards, knowing that he had had some contact with Ryou. He has such a strong faith in his love, it doesn't matter what happens…"

((Is it possible Yami, to have that strong a bond with someone? To know exactly what's going on in their mind?)) Yugi asked, resting his head on Yami's chest.

"I don't know…but then I know that Bakura probably isn't aware of everything in Ryou's mind and if he spends too much time trying to please him, it could backfire…really badly." Yami said thoughtfully and Yugi frowned.

((But surely isn't it a good thing?))

"But it could be that Bakura realises after a while that Ryou isn't going to be the same again and that all of his efforts have gone to waste."

((NO!)) Yami was surprised by the sharpness of Yugi's voice. ((You don't understand…Ryou's still in there, he just doesn't know what to do! He still thinks there's a chance we could get taken away again, he doesn't want to let go of the little world he's built for himself!)) Yami could tell that Yugi was clearly upset with his comments and he bowed his head slightly, sighing.

"I'm sorry Yugi, I didn't mean to sound like it was hopeless. I'm just concerned about Bakura, he's been through so much, keeping his hope alive while we were searching for you. He was always the one who could joke around, make light of every bad thing that happened to us. And it isn't even over for him yet…" Yami sighed once more, avoiding Yugi's gaze. "It will work itself out though, everything does."

((Don't worry, he'll have us to help him.)) Yugi kissed Yami softly on the lips, enjoying the feeling of warmth flowing through him. ((And I have you to help me. I know I'll talk one day because I love you and I want to be able to say those words to you again one day…))

((And you will my love, you will.)) Yami returned the kiss, running his hand through Yugi's hair. ((_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…_)) Yugi smiled as Yami started singing, closing his eyes and letting himself be rocked back and forth as he tightened his grip on Yami, feeling content.

xxxxxx

"So you mean Ryou doesn't remember being with Bakura at all?" Téa exclaimed and when Seto nodded his head, she flopped back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. "Poor Bakura…"

"He's taking it in his stride though, I think he's hoping that Ryou will snap out of it at some point." Malik added before shrugging his shoulders. "After we got over the border, we found this town and you, once Bakura had hacked into the systems. We're staying at a hotel for now until we've worked something out."

"Are you going to live here?" Téa said, her voice holding just a small amount of hope in it. After seeing her friends again, she wasn't sure if she could just let them go.

"I don't see why not. I mean, this place seems nice enough and we need to get settled down if we're going to try and live normal lives." Duke said to reassure her and she smiled, an idea suddenly occurring to her.

"I've got it! Why didn't I think of it before?" She paused to think for a moment. "Well, my husband Dave is training to be a therapist. And if you were ok with it, maybe he could talk to them and see if there's anything he can do to help. I'm sure he could come up with something to help you all." Her suggestion was met with silence and she bit her lip, wondering if she had said something wrong.

"Maybe…but first of all we want to know what happened to you. When we left, you were supposed to be getting married to someone and now we find you're living here, removed from the Domino files with a husband and foster kids!" Joey seemed quite dazed about this all. "We thought we'd never see you again."

"Well, my story isn't very interesting, not compared to yours." Téa said shyly but when nobody said anything, she sighed and looked thoughtful. "Well…I found out from Ishizu at school about what had happened to you because everyone else refused to say anything. But even she had to be careful, lots of people were keeping a watchful eye on me. There was uproar at the school, as you might expect, what with ten students all leaving at the same time. Nobody ever said the words but you could tell everyone /_knew_/ what had happened and a lot of them shunned me, because I had been a friend. But I was more concerned about what my parents had been discussing with me: getting a husband.

"I was only sixteen, I hadn't even thought about marriage! I knew I was different to all the other girls, they were always discussing prospective husbands and perfect homes and stuff like that. I don't even remember thinking about that when I was with you guys, we'd always be taking the piss out of each other, talking about completely random things… But now I had to take an interest in what they had to say. They were all so dumb, thinking that getting married would mean they would be looked up to. I dreaded getting married, losing the little freedom I had but I didn't have a choice. So I was getting married at the age of sixteen to a guy I had never seen before. I only knew his name was David.

"Well, we did meet up eventually and that was the most awkward situation I had ever been in. I didn't know anything about him, what he liked and worst of all, he was nearly five years older than me! But I soon found out he felt the same and we managed to at least build up a friendship by the time the wedding actually happened. I wore a nice dress on that day, I've still got some of the photos if you want to look at them sometime. That was the highlight of the day though, everything else just passed by in a blur. But then of course, I had suddenly realised what was now expected of me: children.

"Now that was something I definitely didn't care for. For a start off, there was no way I could be good mother at my age and I was still young, I wanted to go out and do what I wanted. But that was a foolish wish, I was married now. At any rate, we had to try for a baby. That was an…interesting experience, something I won't go into. Suffice to say that I didn't get pregnant. It didn't matter what we tried, nothing happened. So the doctors there took a look at me, decided I was defective and we got booted out of Domino.

"Now this raised a rather interesting situation: what the hell were we going to do? Luckily, we met a couple of really nice people here who helped us out and we managed to buy this house. Dave got a job at the local social services while my friend Laura somehow managed to get me a job at the modelling agency she works for doing clothes and make up and stuff like that. Everything worked out but now I had time to think about why we had left in the first place. It felt awful knowing I couldn't have children, I knew I hadn't wanted any then but when we had enough money, I would have enjoyed looking after a couple of kids, watching them grow up.

"But then Dave managed to get in contact with the department that dealt with fostering children. After thinking about it, I knew I wanted to do it, we had been lucky with money and stuff and we could offer some support to children. That's how we got Rebecca and Tom. Her parents had died and her grandpa had been looking after her but he's a professor and has to travel quite a lot so they thought it was better if she had somewhere more permanent to stay. So she lives here when her grandpa is away and she stays with him when he's on holiday. Tom meanwhile is six and lived with just his mum but then she got cancer and died. He's very quiet though and doesn't respond much to other people but for some strange reason, he seems to like me and Dave a lot. Luckily Rebecca and Tom don't fight very often so it hasn't been too hard.

"And that's it really. We've been getting the house decorated for a while now and Dave's doing some more training while I'm still at the modelling agency. He should be back soon with Tom, who has been round a friend's house today. Rebecca's just come back from a four week holiday with her grandpa and I was doing a bit of gardening (Note from Chen: Téa Gardner doing the gardening!) when you all came along."

She took a sip from her tea (Note from Chen: He he, Téa drinking tea!), deciding to ignore the looks she was being given. It felt odd being under the scrutiny of so many, especially when she realised that Yugi and the others had come back from the garden at some point during her story telling. They didn't have time to say anything though as just then, the door opened and they heard people entering the house.

"Téa? Are you in here?" They heard a voice call out from the hallway.

"Yes, I'm in the living room with some friends."

Two people soon appeared in the room: one a man of average height with dark brown, almost black hair and hazel coloured eyes wearing a casual suit and the other a boy with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes wearing jeans and a t-shirt. The man seemed to take ten young men in his living room in his stride but the boy stared at them for a moment before bolting out of the room.

"I'm sorry about Tom. As I've said, he's very shy around people." Téa said before turning to the man, who was obviously Dave.

"Hmm, I didn't expect quite this many people. I didn't even think you could get them all in here!" Dave said, scratching the back of his head slightly. "I can see introductions are going to be a bit hard but I'm Dave." He glanced at Téa and frowned slightly. "How have you been today? Did you do much?"

"Well I did a bit of gardening with Rebecca and then some dusting before my friends came." She explained cheerfully and Dave shook his head.

"You've got to take it easy Téa, especially in your condition. I don't want anything happening to you…" He murmured in a concerned tone while everyone else looked very confused.

"Téa, what's happened to you? What haven't you told us about?" Téa smiled at the concern in Joey's voice before she suddenly remembered she hadn't told them.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you that I'm pregnant!"

"You /_forgot_?"

Joey continued to screech in this manner while everyone else congratulated Téa, asking her so many questions that she felt quite baffled and wondered what to say first.

"Well it's been about four weeks now and there haven't been any complications so far. The doctors did wonder for a while why it's taken so long for it to happen but it's just one of those mysteries in life. The Domino Council made a very big mistake." Seeing that the others had calmed down, she breathed a sigh of relief. "But it doesn't matter because we got out of there and that was a very good thing."

"Ah, so you're from Domino too?" Dave suddenly said as he took a closer look at them all. "That must mean you're the group that got taken away and the reason me and Téa met. I think that means I actually know a few of you, Téa did talk about you all quite a lot." He took each face in carefully, trying to discern any outward problems before shaking himself out of it: he didn't want to scare any of them off. "Well I'm going to have a quick shower, I've had a hard day at work and then maybe I can make us something to eat?" He left the invitation open as he left the room.

"Yes, it would be great if you could eat with us tonight!" Téa said cheerfully, thinking of what they could have but she was quickly interrupted by many a protest, mainly along the lines of they didn't want to burden themselves. "Don't be silly, of course you're staying for dinner! We can make some salads and stuff and eat them outside, there's more than enough room. Anyway, we haven't even decided what you're going to do yet."

"Ok, I can see we won't be able to persuade you but you're going to let us do some of the work, we can't have you chasing around after us." Yami said seriously and she giggled, happy that they were all so concerned.

"Honestly, I'll be fine! You're our guests, it would be rude if I did nothing! Anyway, I'm sure some of you probably can't make salads, I bet even Marik's forgotten and he ate them for a living! And Joey, you would just have an allergic reaction to them and I'm sure people don't want extra green bits in their food…" It took everyone a couple of seconds to understand what she meant but when they did, they all shrieked their disgust.

"Téa, that's GROSS! How can you say that?" Joey yelled while others had started flapping their arms around, trying to remove the hideous images from their heads. It was then they heard a quiet voice.

"Kury…I don't get it." Bakura paused at this, knowing that he would have to explain at least part of it. In the end, he just threw caution to the wind and decided Ryou could handle the truth.

"Well salads are green and Joey, not liking them would have an allergic reaction and could start sneezing. And well…snot is green so everyone would have 'extra bits in their food', as Téa put it." Everyone stared at Bakura, wondering why he had said that when Ryou finally understood.

"EW! Yuck! Kury, I don't want to eat bogies!" Ryou pulled a face and everyone started laughing, trying to put off the images that were rapidly descending into their minds once more.

"Don't worry, I'll pick them out for you." Bakura said in mock seriousness and Ryou frowned, trying to work out if he was joking or not. He eventually realised he was and pouted.

"Kury, that's not funny."

"I'm sorry Ryou, there won't be any bogies, I promise." Bakura said and Ryou nodded his head, smiling widely at him.

"That's ok."

Just then, Dave came back, this time with Rebecca and Tom too, ushering them into the room when they hesitated slightly. Tom instantly went to Téa and grabbed her hand so she lifted him onto his lap while Rebecca stood near the door.

"Right, have we decided what we're going to have yet?"

"Yes, I thought we could have salad and some other cold foods. There should be some New potatoes (Note from Chen: The first crop of the year like early potatoes, not some freshly bought ones) that I've just bought and there's plenty of other things in the kitchen." Téa said as she went to stand up.

"No, no, you stay here and chat with your friends, me, Rebecca and Tom will make a start." Rebecca nodded her head at this, she liked being responsible. Tom saw the little smile appear on Téa's face and stood up, going with them to the kitchen.

"I really think we should help…"

"Don't worry guys, Rebecca likes doing things that show how grown up she is. And Dave knows what he's doing, it's fine." Téa insisted and they continued making small talk until Rebecca announced that everything was ready.

xxxxxx

(Note from Chen: Ok peeps, I just wanted to point out this most of this is seen through Téa and Dave's eyes and any thoughts made are by Dave.)

The picnic tables had been put together so there was enough room for all fourteen of them and the food on another table, covered so it wouldn't get attacked by insects and bugs. They all had their plates piled up, only remembering now how hungry they were as they sat down one by one, trying to avoid knocking someone else's plate over, in which Yugi nearly managed to succeed thanks to him elbowing Yami hard by accident. At any rate, they were soon all settled down and looking over their plates, Téa had noticed that while Joey's plate was completely bereft or anything vaguely green, Marik's was stacked with what looked like a miniature green mountain. She decided to make a point of this, knowing that Dave was itching to start assessing them all. She could tell by the look in his eyes. And she would be helping him by getting them to open up…

"Marik, don't you think you got a bit too much? I'm sure Joey probably wanted some." She said seriously, smirking as Joey's eyes widened and people started laughing, remembering all the wonderful incidents involving Joey and his fear of green things.

#_Hmm, memory seems to be working fine for most. But Joey looks confused…does he have partial memory loss?_# Téa had managed to tell him the basics of how they had changed but he wanted to look further into it. #_Partial memory loss, not very common._#

"So then, how does it feel to be free? I know it's a bit weird at first not being watched, me and Dave were so edgy when we had just moved here."

"Well, it does seem a bit odd I suppose, especially with what's been going on. In a way, I think we're all worried, or at least I am, that we're all going to wake up and realise this is just a dream." Yami said and smiled down at Yugi who returned the smile shyly.

#_Hmm, could explain the behaviour of Marik and Ryou. They both seem to be going through some sort of regression, probably caused by the trauma of what's happened. This may possibly explain Yugi's lack of words as well…_#

"We could always test if you want me to Yami…" Malik suggested, an evil glint in his eyes. It was then Yami noticed his thumb and index finger held together in a pinching motion.

"Err…no, that will be /_quite_/ all right!" Yami laughed uneasily, causing Malik to smirk.

"So then…" Téa interrupted, not quite sure what was going on. "Will you be staying here now? In Sullivan I mean. There aren't many big houses around though, or at least there weren't when we were looking. Most of them have two or three bedrooms." She explained, hoping that she could get some sort of information on what was going on with their relationships. After all, she was just a romantic at heart who wanted to see them all happy again.

"Can you imagine what it would be like if we all lived together?" Duke shuddered and the others laughed at the expression on his face. "It would be a nightmare! No, I think we'll all just live somewhere near each other. Right?"

"I agree, that would probably be the best thing. We should probably start looking at some point soon as well." Seto added in his usual businesslike manner.

"Well Dave and I will definitely help you as much as we can until you're on your feet. But you're probably going to need to find jobs as well, or at least something to keep you going. Maybe you had some ideas…?"

Yeah we all know what we're gonna do…" Malik said, giving a significant look on his face and Seto, Yami, Bakura and Malik nodded in understanding. "We all made a promise, a long time ago. When we were all out of there, we were going to achieve our dreams. And now we're here, we can do what we want."

"Uh huh, I know Seto seemed to have his business plans sorted down to the colour of the carpet." Bakura agreed, causing said man to frown while Joey sniggered, reminding himself to ask about that later on.

"Well I'm pretty sure Duke's just as bad." Seto muttered and Duke blushed, throwing a glare in his direction.

#_They seem to have made at least some sort of agreement on the future. Some stability would probably help the others in recovering too._#

"You're both going to set up your own companies…? Wow that sounds cool!"

And with that the conversation turned to lighter subjects, mainly involving how obsessed Seto was with his company while he kept making fun of Duke. All the while Dave kept an open ear, looking for the all important signs that he would need if he was to help them…

xxxxxx

The group all stood at the door, the children having been sent to bed a few minutes ago as they organised when they were next going to see each other.

"Why don't you all come around tomorrow? We can start organising things like housing while maybe Dave can talk to you too…?" Téa suggested, wondering how they would react.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. What sort of time would you be around?"

"Anytime, as long as it isn't like seven in the morning of something." Téa replied to Yami's question.

"Do /_you_/ think any of us will be up and about at that time either?" Joey pointed out and she nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, silly thing to say really. But anyway, just come whenever you want to." They started to step out into the growing darkness, pulling collars up when they felt the cool night air. "It was really great to see you all again. I'm glad you're all safe…" She whispered and they smiled at her, knowing how happy she really was.

They said their goodbyes and Téa and Dave waved to them as they travelled back down the garden path, the light from their hall spilling out into the now quickly descending night. Once they had gone around the corner, they hurried back inside and shut the door, going into the kitchen to do the washing up.

"So then, what do you think?" Téa suddenly asked as she put away the last of the pots and pans.

"They seem like nice people, I can see why they mean so much to you." Dave replied, pouring the water away before following her into the living room, flopping down on the sofa. When he noticed the frown on her face he pulled her towards him, holding her tightly while she rested her head on his shoulder. "You mean, what do I think about them mentally?"

"I didn't mean to act annoyed or anything-"

"Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just thinking about the events of tonight, I can't be sure of anything without talking to them further." Seeing Téa's disappointed look, he laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "That isn't to say I haven't come up with any conclusions at all, I'm just a bit wary, that's all."

"I know that what you say isn't going to be certain Dave, I'd just like to know." Téa said quietly and he nodded his head in understanding.

"Of course…" He paused and thought about the most obvious things. "Well…I suppose the most important thing to note is that they've all been affected by what's happened quite badly. I didn't hear what actually happened to them but I imagine it's put a great strain on them all. The odd thing is that they've all been affected differently. Clearly though, Yugi and Ryou are responding to this trauma by dissociation and regression, Marik too although it isn't as severe. They're trying to protect themselves from what happened and that's why Yugi doesn't talk and Ryou's created this child-like persona. Joey meanwhile seems to be taking things quite well but he's lost some part of his memory, on some occasions he seemed quite confused." Dave stopped talking and Téa looked up at him, wondering why he wasn't continuing.

"What about Tristan?"

"I'm having a lot of trouble concluding about him. He, like Joey, has no outward symptoms for the effect this has had on him. However, he seems to be…wilting. That's not a very good way of describing it but it seems to be putting a barrier between him and Duke. You told me they were close but it's obvious that whatever's going on with Tristan, he hasn't told Duke and so he's not getting any support. It might catch up with him eventually and by that time, it could be lot more serious than it is now. This is similar to Marik, if these delusions he's having aren't stopped, it's going to put a big strain on his relationship with Malik. I imagine everyone will be facing major problems as they try and adjust. It all depends on how strong Seto, Yami, Bakura, Malik and Duke are…"

Having finished telling Téa his thoughts, he fell into a brooding silence, the challenge that they were going to present would be enormous. Coming back to reality though, he suddenly realised how downcast Téa looked, she seemed smaller than usual, like everything he had said was taking its toll on her. Realising how important it was to her that they were all happy, he looked down and started stroking her arm, trying to soothe her.

"It's going to be hard but it's nothing I can't help them with. Don't expect miracles though, it's going to take time. But I know that things can change and I'm going to try my hardest to make sure it does, ok Téa?" She stared up at his face, her eyes shining with tears before she hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek.

"Thank you Dave, I know you'll try your best." She kissed him again, pressing her lips against his for a moment before pulling away to take him in. "I love you."

"And I love you too Téa."

* * *

And what a wonderfully cheesy way to end another chapter! I apologise for that but I felt I had to do a bit on Dave and Téa to show that they're a proper couple who have learnt to love each other. But anyway, onto the notes: 

1. Yes, it is Rebecca from the TV series but I thought it would be a character that everyone would be familiar with. Except for in my story, she's not quite obsessed with her teddy bear and she doesn't think Yugi is her boyfriend. She'll play a bigger role in the sequel, although she won't be a main character or anything. And Tom isn't based on anyone, I just made him up. He'll have a bigger part in the next chapter but not much apart from that. Dave however will play quite a big role for the rest of this story.

2. Oh, the amount of research that I came up with was amazing! I tried to keep it slightly limited as I know psychology isn't everyone's thing (although it is one of favourite subjects, it's a shame I don't do it for A Level) but I found out some really interesting facts. Like, apparently some doctors are saying that teenagers should get around 9 hours of sleep! I'm very bad with my sleep, I only get about 6.5 hours every night…

3. And today has seen a little bit more insight into what's wrong with Tristan. Inspired from a documentary called…I can't tell you that or you'll know what's wrong with him! I'm accepting guesses though!

Long and boring notes but I felt like the characters needed a bit of explanation after just suddenly introducing them all. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW! You know I love them!

S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.


End file.
